Depths of Brotherhood
by Elillierose
Summary: When news of people going missing starts to surface all over, the group decides it's none of their business. But they rethink that when two of their own get taken and are forced into underground slavery. Warning: There is implications of rape. It will not be written in detail, nor will there be any graphic depictions of it, but it will be implied.
1. Missing Persons

**Hopefully this is fixed now. I uploaded the non-fixed document like an idiot. XD Hopefully this one has much less mistakes.**

Ignis' hands tightened around the steering wheel as the perpetual changing stations were beginning to grate against his nerves. This had been going on for nearly five minutes now and each station could only get out a few words or notes before they were cut off once again. More than once the thought of turning the radio off altogether and forbidding Prompto to touch it has crossed his mind. He settled on casting the occasional glare in his direction, hoping he would get the message eventually, but so far it has proven to do little to no good. The blond appeared to be completely oblivious to the frustration he was causing as he once again flipped the radio to a different station.

He cast his eyes over once again, "Do you mind?" He finally asked after so many moments of suffering in silence. "Your indecisiveness is giving me a headache."

"Hmm?" Prompto asked after changing it again. Then it clicked after a few seconds, "Oh! Sorry, I guess I wasn't really paying attention." He took his hand away, leaving the radio where it currently was. The song that was playing slowly faded as it ended and the reporter's voice filled the silence that ensued. Most of her words went unnoticed, but there was one that piqued their interest and drew in their attention.

The word 'missing' reached out to them and they now found themselves hanging onto each word. Noctis and Gladio were even leaning forward in the seats now in order to concentrate and hear better.

'Another victim has once again gone missing, which now makes a total of twenty-seven just this week alone, and a total of fifty-three this month.' The mood in the Regalia took a completely different turn after hearing that. 'There does not seem to be any correlation or connection between the victims, nor the locations of which they were last seen.' Ignis kept his eyes forward and on the road while Prompto had resorted to staring blankly out the window. The others had leaned back once again. 'We warn everyone to be on your guard, and to report any suspicious activity, no matter how trivial it may seem.' Static trailed after the last word was spoken which abruptly transitioned into piano as the next song had started.

"I can't believe it. I thought there was only a few, but this..." Prompto mumbled, focus still on the passing scenery.

"It appears to have escalated these past few weeks." Ignis agreed, "Could be kidnappings of opportunity."

Prompto finally looked back towards the radio, "Why do you think whoever these people are are doing this? I mean, no bodies have been found, its basically as if they just vanished. Not even so much as a witness."

Ignis thought about it for a moment, "Could be a few things. It's a possibility that is could all be a coincidence as well, though highly unlikely."

"Don't you think we should, I don't know, do something about this?" Prompto asked a bit sheepishly. We can't just sit idly by while people are taken away from their lives and families." He turned around in his seat to look to the others for some backup. His eyes flicked from Noctis to Gladio.

"We should probably leave it to the pros." Gladio answered for Ignis, "It's not something we should be meddling in."

"But-" Prompto began to argue with that statement.

"Gladio is right." Ignis replied, "It's not something we should involve ourselves in." He gave the other a disapproving look, "Now please, do sit properly." Prompto gazed down at his hands clutching the headrest and carefully turned himself back around.

"Alright." Prompto gave in, not pushing the subject further and reverted to watching the landscape stretch on in uncomfortable muteness. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't push the thoughts of what those missing persons could be going through. This just wasn't right. He was unaware of himself fiddling with his hands in his lap.

"I'm going to make a quick stop in order to re-supply, you three should do the same and pick up anything you need. Remember, only the necessities." Ignis instructed as he slowed down and pulled off to the side, parking outside a cluster of various buildings. There was a gas station, a general goods store, and a lone diner. The whole place was eerily dead with only a few other cars peppering the plot.

Ignis was the first to leave the vehicle, making a straight shot for the general store. The others followed suit as Prompto trailed behind them, a little reluctantly. He took a quick look around before closing his door and joining the other three.

"While I purchase the potions, one of you can grab some water and whatever else you find to be of use." Ignis waved a hand at them and began browsing their selections carefully and thoroughly.

Gladio set off on that task, being the survivalist of the group and knowing exactly what was needed, he took it upon himself to do that himself. The other two busied themselves with merely scanning the other items that filled the shelves. Most of which was little trinkets and nick knacks that held no particular interest. There was one however that caught Prompto's eyes and he strolled over to get a closer view of the object.

His fingers ghosted over the glass dome, dust clinging to them as he done so. Wiping it down with his sleeve he could see what looked to be a little sculpted pickax that was surrounded with piles of coal and rock, and instead of the usual 'snow' it looked to me more black, like dust particles and debris. He gazed down the the metal plate at it's base and read: Balouve Mines. This thing was clearly pretty old as rust had already begun to eat away at the corners. He allowed his fingers to slide off the smooth surface and rejoined with Ignis who was now paying for his items.

They stood by the counter as Gladio payed for his as well. Noctis was tapping his foot impatiently, ready to get back on the road already. "We should probably get a bite while we're here, it'll be quite sometime before we come across anything else." Ignis spoke, pushing the door open as Gladio made his way towards them.

"Sounds good to me, I'm starving." Gladio responded, following the other man, bags in hand. They dropped off their newly acquired items in the trunk, and entered the diner, which only had a few people sitting around. Some were eating, but some a couple seemed to be having a private conversation of sorts, as they were huddled in their booth in the farthest corner.

Gladio paced over to the front counter, ordering something rather cheap for all of them, knowing they didn't have much gil to spare anymore. They only needed a little something to sustain them for a little while longer anyway. As he was ordering, Prompto felt the need to visit the restroom. Waving a hand to the others he began walking over, almost pausing as he caught a part of the words which were being exchanged by the two men in the corner, but kept going, not wanting to seem as though he were eavesdropping.

Not that it was too out of the ordinary, but the words, 'Haven't seen him for three days.' did spark up his curiosity. But, he chose to ignore it, deciding it was none of his business and continued.

As he was washing his hands he heard the door creak open, but he kept his eyes down, not wanting to be weird and look to see who it was, he was already highly uncomfortable just being at this place. As whoever it was passed by him, there was an odd smell coming of him. It smelled a lot like dirt, but there was something else mixed in with it. Then it clicked. It was the familiar scent of blood.

'Maybe he's just a hunter.' He explained to himself. 'We've been covered in blood on more than one occasion.' He thought back to the countless times they have been on hunts and filled the Regalia with the same scent he was faced with now. Regardless of the logic of that realization, he still found himself moving slightly faster as he quickly exited, forgetting to dry his hands off, but just settled for wiping them on his shirt.

Spotting the others, he slid into the seat next to Ignis, not saying a word. There was nothing to mention. He glanced around, automatically focusing on the two guys in the corner, well one guy now. So it was the other one that was in there with him. He unconsciously kept his eyes on the door until the other man eventually walked out. Prompto hurriedly averted his eyes when the man's own connected with his. Something about them seemed to hold so much...fascination.

"Everything alright?" His gaze snapped to Noctis who had been staring at him. The prince looked to where Prompto had been staring previously.

"Y-yeah, everything is good." He picked up his drink to take a quick sip. His glanced back over to the men real quick, relieved that they were talking again, neither paying him any attention. "Just thinking." He began picking at his fries, not really paying any mind to them.

So lost in thought he nearly jumped when he felt something press into his seat. Snapping his head up, he visibly flinched when he was faced with the same man. He had his hand on the seat, leaning heavily into it, and was way too close for his liking. He instinctively moved a little closer to Ignis, trying to put some distance between the two of them. If the older man noticed, he chose not to speak about it.

"I don't think I've seen you fellas around here before." He spoke lowly, and it seemed a little forced.

"Just passing through." Noctis answered with his straight-forward tone. "Don't plan to be here for longer than we need to be."

"Is that so?" The man asked, glancing from one to the other, lasting a little longer when they landed on Prompto, but he was quick to tear them away and looked back to the prince. "Well, I don't reckon I can bother you folks for a little bit of assistance?" No one answered so he continued. "You see, a buddy of ours have been missing for a few days, and I assume you've heard of the strange happenings that's been going on in these parts. You don't suppose you could keep an eye out for this face do you?" He retrieved a photo from his back pocket and unfolded it before tossing it into the middle of the table.

"Like I said, we won't be here long, but if we happen to see him, then we'll see what we can do." Noctis replied, hoping that would get him to leave.

He lingered for a little while longer, not seeming to be happy with that response, but eventually he pushed himself back from the booth and rejoined his companion. They exchanged a few words and both made their way towards the entrance, both throwing glances at the group of four on the way out.

Prompto relaxed slightly now that they were gone, scooting back away from Ignis, a little embarrassed that he had drifted over in the first place. The other still said nothing about, sparing him some of his dignity. They finished their meals in relative silence, all of them feeling a bit on edge after the air those two had left behind.

For the first time, Ignis picked up the picture in the center of the table. After looking it over, he stuffed it into his pocket, seeing that it just appeared to be an average looking guy with no discernible features about him. "I'm not sure what that was all about, but we should really get going." Ignis said nonchalantly, but the others could see he was just as eager as they were to go.

They returned to the car and without much thought and wasting no time, Ignis pulled back onto the highway, and they all felt the tension drain a bit at finally being back on track. Prompto leaned his head back and just took the time to appreciate the wind blowing by, which only lasted for a short while.

They all lurched forward slightly as they heard strange and rather unsettling noises coming from one of the tires, throwing them off a small amount. With a quick and quiet swear under his breath, Ignis pulled over beside the road and parked. He sighed heavily out of clear irritation and went directly to check things out, finding the issue almost immediately. "Flat tire." He said flatly.

"Didn't we just get them replaced the other day?" Prompto asked, stepping out as well.

"Did you hit something?" Noctis asked, stepping out to see the damage for himself.

Ignis crouched down to get a closer look. "I can assure you that I have done no such thing." He assured, gazing over the tire until he spotted what he was looking for. It wasn't a large hole, but it was definitely there, edges a little split from the pressure of the air being forced out. It looked as though it had been intentionally done. He felt a flare of anger course through him and quickly composed himself.

Gladio got out last to check the trunk, slamming a fist down on the side after coming up empty handed. There wasn't a spare, and he inwardly cursed himself for not thinking about that while they had their chance. "We'll have to either walk back to get one, or depend on the courtesy of others, which from what we've seen, might not be likely."

Prompto didn't like the idea of either of those options, the people around this area already left a bad impression. He was about to vocalize his opinion when Ignis spoke up, "With the lack of traffic around here, it would probably be faster to just go back." He looked directly at Prompto, "Care to join me?"

"Me?" He swiftly glanced between the others, "You want me to go with you? Back there?" He threw a thumb back in the direction they had com from.

"Yes, that is what I am suggesting. You two stay here, we need someone to keep an eye on the Regalia and in case anyone comes by. If that does happen, make sure to call, and we'll head back." With that he waved for Prompto to come. He fidgeted a little and hesitantly did just that.

Prompto was walking close behind Ignis, occasionally casting a look behind them should he see any oncoming vehicles. "How much further?" He asked after some time. Not a lot of time had passed, but he was more than ready to get this over with, not that he was excited to get back to that dreadful place.

"We are not even half way there." He answered plainly, "It's only been a few minutes, and given that we were on the road for nearly five minutes, I guarantee it will take a bit longer by foot."

The blond only nodded, despite the other not being able to see it, but it didn't matter anyway, the sound of an approaching engine soon enticed them to turn around. A rather rundown looking truck was coming down the road from the direction of the Regalia and was soon within a close enough proximity for Ignis to flag it down, though they seemed to be slowing down before he even did that.

The driver pulled over and rolled down his window, "You two the friends of the guys hanging out back there?" He asked, pointing towards Gladio and Noctis.

"Indeed, that would be correct." Ignis answered.

"They told me what happened, figured I was heading this way anyway, may as well give you two a ride." They heard the click of the doors being unlocked, "Just hop in on the other side." Promtpo stepped in first, setting himself between Ignis and this stranger, the stench of dirt and blood coming off this guy as well, though it seemed to be slightly covered with the scent of alcohol. "So, what brings that likes of you into this area?" He asked as he began accelerating down the road.

"We are only passing through." Ignis chose to keep the answer short and vague, not wanting to provide anyone with any specific details. Prompto, on the other hand, remained silent. The other two carried on in idle conversation, Ignis was doing it more so to keep some sort of normalcy.

The thing that triggered all the alarms in Prompto's head though, was when the man began slowing down, despite not being anywhere near their destination. "Umm, wh-why are we stopping?" He asked nervously, glancing around outside for anything, noticing another car parked nearby, recognizing it as one of the vehicles they saw earlier.

"Settle down boy." The man answered, "Just need to talk to these gentlemen real fast. I was supposed to meet them, you see." He stepped out, leaving the others to themselves.

"I don't like this." Prompto said once the door was shut, "We need to go."

"Calm down, Prompto." Ignis' voice aided in pacifying him marginally, but not very much, "If you panic, it will only cause problems." He looked out as the man leaned into the window of the other car. "Stay here." He said, getting out.

"Wait, where are you going?" Prompto asked, trying to get out as well.

"This will just be a moment." He replied, holding a hand up, gesturing for him not to argue it further. He closed the door and Prompto watched as he strolled over. He looked away for a few moments, noticing something else in the distance, it looked like another truck further off the road. There looked to be some sort of white cloth covering it. Glancing back to see that the others were speaking, he crawled over to the driver's side, since it was facing away from them, and eased his way out, being as quiet as he could so as not to draw unwanted attention.

He didn't close the door all the way, leaving it partially open should it be too loud. Taking one last look to make sure no one was watching, he began quickly jogging over. It didn't take long for him to reach it and he tentatively reached out a hand towards the stark material. A slight movement caused him to quickly withdraw, "What the hell?" He whispered to himself, and reached out once again, gripping it tightly, yet nervously. With one quick motion, he thrust it back.

At the sight, he felt like he couldn't breath and took a couple steps back. "Wha...?" He felt sick and found himself at a loss of words. They were people. They were alive, but they all were bound and gagged, most had their eyes closed in artificial slumber. A couple of them were barely awake, struggling to move even an inch. His heart was beating way too fast and he thought he was going to pass out.

They had to get out of here. "Iggy!" He called spinning around, immediately slamming into someone.

"Well, fancy meeting you again." He felt a chill run through him at the recognition of that voice. It was that same guy from earlier, and the smell of blood seemed to be even stronger now. Before Prompto could step back an arm wrapped itself tightly around his neck. "You had to be a nosy little bastard, didn't ya?" He spit out. Prompto couldn't respond, he could barely breath through the constriction. Then there was a stab of pain in the side of his neck, followed by an almost burning sensation.

"Let go." He strained to get out as he quickly felt his own strength leaving him.

"As you wish." He was thrown roughly to the ground, and normally he would have been able to stay standing, but for some reason he lost his balance. He tried pushing himself up, but his arms weren't working with him as they shook with the effort.

"Wh-wha did you do?" He slurred out. Calling his gun, it only dropped to the ground, unable to hold onto it. Trying to reach for it, there was a painful pressure being pressed down onto his wrist as the guy placed his foot down.

"Now now, let's not get to feisty. I don't appreciate those who fight back." He crouched down and picked up his gun, "Also, you won't be needing these little toys anymore." He slipped it into his back pocket, pulling the end of his shirt over it. "And don't worry about your little buddy, he'll be coming along as well."

"N-no" Prompto could barely hear his own voice anymore, and moving at all was now out of the question. Black tendrils were starting to tease the edges of his vision. "Please." He begged, fingers twitching with the attempt of crawling. Last thing he was aware of was something being tied around his mouth, and the same being done to his arms and legs.

His senses faded out for a moment, but came back shortly as he felt more than one pair of hands being placed on him and lifting him up. He was lied, or more along the lines of tossed onto something kind of soft, yet lumpy as all the light he could make out was abruptly shut off along with his senses once again.


	2. Dominus

Noctis subconsciously kicked at a loose rock sitting upon the earth, watching it roll and bounce across the road. Neither of them had seen anything since that one truck that had passed by. Gladio had resorted to leaning against the car, the heat finally starting to really beat down as midday strolled in and the temperatures began to rise. Swiping a hand across his brow, he pushed himself away from the vehicle, "They've been gone far too long."

The prince took the few steps to stand next to him, "Yeah, it should have taken an hour at the most. Maybe they got lost?" He asked, already knowing it was a stupid question.

"Prompto maybe, but Ignis, that would be highly unlikely." He folded his arms over his chest. "It's been nearly three hours."

Noctis sighed heavily, brushing his damp hair out of his eyes, "I know, they should have been back by now." He stepped away and began walking in the direction the others had gone.

"And where are you going?"

"Where does it look like." He answered waving a hand, "Going to make sure they know the way back. Can't sit here and wait forever."

Gladio took glance at the Regalia, that down the road, seeing that it was as barren as the surrounding desert, "I swear, way much more trouble than it's worth." There was no hostility in his words, nor were they bitter; only flat and harmless. He caught up to Noctis in only a few long strides, "Can't help but wonder if that guy ever came across them." He stated, in an attempt to start some sort of a conversation.

"No idea, but if he did, then it's just more the reason why they should have been back by now." He let his eyes drift down to the road as they locked onto tire marks, and started trailing them as they walked.

Uncomfortable silence rolled in the further they walked, different scenarios running through their heads, none of which sounded particularly ideal in their opinion. They were hoping that maybe they were just having a difficult time with the purchase; although, over an hour for buying one tire sounded a bit outlandish and absurd, but they could hope. Noctis lifted his head up, gazing up and down the road, noticing that he could see nothing in either direction. Had they really been walking that long, it seemed to pass by so quickly.

He glanced off to the right, noticing a a few tire marks that lead off-road. This seemed a bit odd, but other than that there was nothing that should have made him suspicious or set off alarms. He shrugged it off and returned his attention forward, keeping it there until he could spot the few buildings in the distance. With this, he instinctively quickened his pace, hearing the footsteps of the other man increase as he did the same.

Upon first inspection, it appeared as they had left it, only now there were even less cars sprinkled around the area. Scanning through the windows from where he stood, he saw no indication of the others and slight panic was now beginning to grip at him, "Do you see them?" He asked, rather desperately, squinting to look into each window again.

"You're probably not going to get a good look from here." Gladio gave his answer, brushing past the other to enter the general goods store. He slowly cracked the door open, peering inside before pressing it the rest of the way. It created a long and high pitched creak as it did so. "Hello?" He asked, stepping inside, Noctis right behind him.

"Yes, can I help you?" They heard him call from the other side of the store, though they couldn't see him. Not giving them a chance to say anything, he gave an answer, "Feel free to look around, I'll be with you shortly."

Not really interested in anything that filled these worn down shelves, the two of them merely settled for standing where they were, waiting patiently. Gladio quickly took to tapping his foot, really not in the mood to be waiting on someone after walking all the way there. It only took a few seconds for him to decide to go to the owner instead of the other way around. Stepping around the first shelf, his arm bumped into the corner, shaking it and followed that was a shatter as something slid off.

"I hope you plan on paying for that." They voice ensued not even a moment after the property damage. Gladio only scoffed as he walked around the shelf and peered down at the broken item. Glass was scattered among the floor and liquid was still flowing from the center of the mess.

"Yeah yeah." Gladio said, seeing that it appeared to be a cheap little trinket, "Probably with like one gil." He mumbled under his breath and crouched down to pick up some of the larger pieces. He placed them in one large hand, eyes scanning over a little metal pickax along with a metal plate and multiple shards of thick glass.

Pushing himself back to his feet, he carefully cradled the hazardous pieces as he made his way to the trash can and dropped them in, making sure to cautiously brush off any shards that may have been left behind. He turned around and nearly stumbled back, not expecting the clerk to be mere inches away. "That will be twenty gil." He declared, holding out a hand expectantly.

Gladio begrudgingly fished in his pocket, "Overpriced hunk of junk." He mumbled incoherently, handing the money over. If the man heard anything, he didn't mention it. Most likely because he knew the statement to hold a measure of truth to it.

"I have a question for you?" Gladio asked.

The man carried the gil over to his register, and dropped it in, and then spoke, "Ask away." He said, almost bitterly.

"Those other two men that were with us earlier. They were on their way back here, but they haven't returned. You haven't happened to see them, have you?" He couldn't stifle the sliver of hope that surfaced from deep down.

"Hmmm." The man thought on it for a moment, staring off towards the ceiling as he tried to recall. "I don't believe so. Haven't seen anyone since you folks were in here earlier. We don't get much traffic through here, so I tend to remember most faces I see."

"And you're sure you haven't seen them?" Noctis interjected, placing both hands on the counter as he leaned forward slightly. "Passing by, or anything?" He added the second question, gesturing towards the door and windows.

"Sorry, kid. Haven't seen anyone except you two since you were here earlier." Noctis saw truth behind his eyes, that seemed to be appreciatively accompanied by sympathy. "Maybe you should check the other places, maybe they have better news." Without another word, he stepped out from behind his counter and returned to the back, continuing what he was doing.

"Come on, Noct. Let's go."

Noctis stood in silence, not wanting to move from his spot, "They aren't going to be anywhere else around here." He replied flatly. "They would have no reason to. Something had to have happened, and they wouldn't have gone anywhere without telling us they wer-" Then it clicked. "Dammit, why didn't we try this first." He pulled out his phone and quickly dialed Ignis' number. It rang a few times and strangely just cut off as it reverted to a dial tone. "Call Prompto." He said as he pulled the phone back to dial again, this time going straight to voice mail.

"Nothing." Gladio announced, getting the same result.

"Something's not right." Noctis admitted, more to himself as he stuffed his phone back into his pocket and strolled back out the door, not even bothering to check the other places and began to head back down the road.

"Noct, you need to take a moment to breathe." Gladio called after him, catching up and gripping his wrist tightly, "You can't be acting on impulse, you need to think about this."

"What is there to think about?" Noctis almost snapped, yanking his arm away, "They never got here and they aren't answering there phones. And...and that guy that offered his help, what if..." He trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence, every possible ending leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

"I know it doesn't seem great, but we don't know anything yet." He looked him in the face, not missing the clear pessimism, "We should probably head back, maybe they just had to go elsewhere."

"Then why not answer their phones?" Noctis asked, none too calmly.

"I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for that."

"Yeah, right." the prince scoffed, turning away from his shield to keep walking. "Let's just go." Gladio let out a drawn out and rigid breath, warily following the other back onto the road.

The journey back was many times more arduous and tedious. And once again, Noctis found his eyes drifting over to those tire marks, this time unable to stifle his curiosity. Without a word, he veered off to the left, making a beeline for the marks. "Where are you going now?" Gladio asked, going after him, seeing as he had no intention of stopping.

"Just checking something out." He answered obviously, gaze fixated on the imprinted earth in front of him. "This will only take a moment." Gladio was going to just view from afar, but the concentration the younger man held urged him to take interest.

Joining his side, he followed the trail himself, a slight shimmer catching his attention and Inviting him over to it. As he drew closer he could tell that it was glass, "What the...?" He mumbled, reaching it and crouching down. A pang shot through him, "Noct." He called over sullenly, dread lacing the name.

He walked over willingly, each step twice what it normally would be, "What? What is it?" He pressed, glancing down at what Gladio held in his hand. "Is that?" He reached out to take it in his own hands, rotating it, not wanting to believe it. It was glasses, and they looked an awful lot like Ignis'. And the crack that ran across them did nothing to help settle has pacing heart.

* * *

His head throbbed dully, and waking up was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment. Waking up meant more pain, and at least with sleep, that was one less thing to deal with. There was shuffling next to him, but he couldn't bring himself to care really. Didn't know who or what it was, but it would have to stop eventually; then he would have his peace and quiet once again. But it didn't stop, it only moved closer, close enough to make contact with him. Why couldn't it just leave him alone.

Trying to swat at whatever this nuisance was, his arm simply felt like it flailed at his side, limbs not wanting to participate. He tried again, and this time managed to get it to slide a few inches across the rock surface. Rock? That wasn't right, why was the ground so rough. This lit his sense of urgency and now he felt the need to wake up.

Yet, his arms and legs still felt far to heavy to do anything, not to mention his head still pounded, only intensifying the clouds that filled it. Next he moved onto his eyes, which thankfully wanted to work with him more than against him like the rest of his body. He couldn't see much through the fogginess, but he could tell it was quite dim, yet there was a couple lights fading in and out someone out of his sight.

Opening his mouth to call out to anyone, he wasn't sure if anything came out or not. His throat felt a little dry with the attempt, but he could hear nothing. But something must have escaped because the movement next to him seemed to be more deliberate as he felt a hand on the side of his face and could hear things being spoken, but not what they were. He tried once again and this time could make out a quiet groan. Well, better than nothing.

"Ompto." He could make out that, but barely. Slowly his vision started to clear up and he could make out a face peering down at his. "Prompto?" He knew who it was by the sound, which he was relieved by, because he still couldn't make out any features.

"Iggy?" He slurred out. His voice didn't even want to cooperate with him. "Wha?" He swallowed hard against the dryness, "Wha goin' on?" He really hoped Ignis could translate what he was trying to say.

"I'm not entirely certain." He answered honestly, pushing the blond down when he tried to get up. "Stay down, the drugs haven't worn off."

He responded by blinking away some of the fog. "Where?" He asked next, not bothering to finish that question.

"Again, I'm not quite sure."

As his sight slowly became more trustworthy he could make out Ignis' face. "Where are your glasses?" Was the first thing he asked, until he noticed the thin dried trail of blood going down the side of his head. "An' why are you bleeding?"

Ignis' hand instinctively went to the bump on the side of his head, pain still pulsing lightly from it. "I was knocked unconscious, but it's alright. Must have lost my glasses then, but I'll survive without them."

Prompto nodded slowly, and even that small movement caused the world to spin and he had to close his eyes against it. He just wanted this stuff to wear off already. Once the dizziness subsided he risked opening his eyes once again. "How long?" He asked, words cutting off as the last syllable was croaked out, so he gave it another attempt, "How long was I out?"

"About an hour after I woke up, I can't say how much time has passed before that."

"Oh." Was all he said in response, unsure of how he should take that news. He decided that getting the rest of his body working should be his first priority and he started by flexing his fingers and toes, seeing that they all moved fine. But he could feel a breeze on his feet. Lifting his head what little amount he could, he noticed that he wasn't wearing any shoes, in fact all his clothes had been changed into drab and simple cotton clothing. "Really?" He asked rhetorically, gently letting his head drift back to the floor.

He was about to test out some more movement, but was cut short as loud foot steps echoed off the walls. "Alright, rise and shine!" A voice carried out through the corridor, and that's when he noticed for the first time that they were behind metal, rusted bars. This was a cell. "It's time to give everyone their assignments!" They declared with far too much enjoyment in their voice. Prompto recognized it, Before he could quite place it, his body involuntarily shuddered from it.

Ignis felt this and cast a glance down, seeing how uneasy the blond clearly was. He averted his stare and searched for who was talking, keeping his eyes outside the cell as the steps grew closer, waiting for him to come into his line of sight.

"My name is Impius and I shall be in charge of you lot. Think of yourselves as my personal pets." He laughed to himself at that, "So any misbehavior will be corrected by me." He was finally visible to Ignis, and it was that same greasy piece of garbage of a human from the diner. "Everyone to your feet."

He stopped in front of Ignis and Prompto, staring directly at them, "Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to join us." He stated with a crooked grin as he leaned against the bars. "Now both of you, up."

Ignis looked down at Prompto, asking him if he thought he could stand with only a nod. He reluctantly nodded back, did he really have much of a choice? Once Ignis was up, he lent a hand to the other, which took longer than he liked to get there. "Hurry the fuck up, I don't have all day!" The man almost yelled, slamming a fist against the bars. Prompto jumped at this, the sudden sound startling him.

"I'm trying." He answered in a low voice.

"I didn't tell you to try, I told you to do it. There ain't no such thing as 'trying' here." Prompto could hear the venom and threat that his words held, and despite his rubbery legs, managed to stand well enough on his own. "That's better." He smiled again and pushed himself away, continuing his path, "That goes for the rest of you too." They heard another slam and rattle as he presumably assaulted another cell door.

Ignis saw the slight shift in Prompto's posture, and was able to place a hand on his shoulder before he could waver anymore, "Steady." Ignis whispered, keeping his hand where it was to help give the other some sore of balance support.

"Ok, I'm going to let one go at a time, single file, and keep up!" His voice bounced off the walls and resonated in their ears. The two of them waited patiently until he finally got the them and unlocked their door. He stood back, forcing them to walk in front of him.

The first step was a bit unstable, but soon they began to become more natural, though he still needed the adviser's hand to help keep him from toppling over. They were lead out into a larger room, well it was kind of like a room. It was more of a carved out cave. Where they joined a group of about ten others, all standing in a circle around a man in the center.

Once everyone was standing, the man in the center extended his arms outward in a dramatic manner, "Greetings to you all, I do hope you all had a good night's sleep." His words dripped with insincerity and sarcasm, "I'm sure you all have your concerns and questions, but I should inform you, I honestly do not give a shit what they are." He gave them all a forced smile, "My name is Dominus, but you shall refer to me as Sir. Not Dominus, not Mister, Sir, and nothing else. You will not speak out of term, you will not move out of term, and you will not breathe out of term. Any breaking of rules will result in your punishment, and I cannot guarantee it will be pleasa-"

"Wh-why? Why are you doing this?" Am older man three down from Prompto's left interrupted; he appeared to be on the verge of tears.

Dominus stiffened at the outburst, "And here we have our first act of defiance. This sure didn't take as long as the last group." He strode forward until he was standing face to face with the older man. Without a single word, he struck out with his fist, effectively knocking him to the ground. "You will show me respect." He emphasized with a kick to the side. The beating carried on for a few seconds, which was a few seconds too long for Prompto's liking.

"Stop!" He cried out before he could stop himself. That did at least get the abuse to stop, but that glare only switched over. "P-please, Sir." He tried to correct himself, hoping to appease him if just a little.

"What the hell did you say to me?" He laughed, as he pulled his fist away, now red with specs of blood littering it. "I don't know who the hell you think you are." Stepping away from the elder, he got uncomfortably close to the blond, and let his fingers intertwine into his hair as the quickly tightened and he pulled his head forward to be closer to his face. Until this, he didn't realize how large the man actually was. He could honestly rival Gladio with his stature. "I don't think you understand, you don't tell me what to do."

"I-I'm sorry, I wasn't think-"

"I don't give a shit about your excuse!" He thrust his hand to the side, pulling Prompto down with it, causing him to land painfully on the rock. He didn't get the chance to try and get back up as Dominus placed a heavy foot on the side of his face, pressing down until loose rocks and pebbles dug into his cheek. He cast his eyes over to Ignis, noticing the change in his posture, "And you, move and I'll stomp until there's nothing left but mush, understand?" With much internal debate, Ignis tried to relax and stand back a bit, not wanting to risk harm. "That's what I thought."

Prompto squirmed slightly under the weight of the boot, and eventually it was removed and he felt himself being roughly pulled back up, the sudden change in aptitude making him sway slightly, but he was able to stay standing, more from spite that anything at this point. "Back in line, before I change my mind about going easy." He gave a solid push on Prompto's back, pushing him towards his original spot; Ignis putting out a hand to help. "Don't help him." Dominus warned.

Once all was quiet, he continued, "Alright, I will assign your roles for you time down here." He started with the old man, "Janitor." And stopped at each person until he got to Prompto, "Miner." He said with a soft chuckle, and moved on to Ignis, "You look like a clever lad, inventory." He kept this up until he got to the last person. "Alright, that will be all, Impius, take them back."

"Yes, Sir." He replied obediently, quick to start ushering them in front of him "Move along." He demanded when they weren't walking as swiftly as he would have liked. They were all now back in their cells, all were quiet and somber, still processing what was happening, most having a hard time believing any of this.


	3. Blood and Blisters

He wasn't sure how long he was asleep, could have been only minutes, or it could have been hours. But whichever it was, he definitely didn't feel well-rested, and the fact that they had been sleeping on literal rocks may have had something to do with that. He would have liked to rest for a little while longer, but the returning footsteps pulled him away from the luxury. Next to him, Prompto was still sleeping quietly, his breaths even and silent. "Rise and Shine!" Came the sound of Impius' overly joyous tone. "Time to get to work!"

It sounded as though he was stopping at each cell, but Ignis wasn't sure why, until they get to theirs. In one hand he was carrying a gun of some sort, and in the other was a bin. "You." He nodded towards Ignis, "Get up and come here."

He pushed himself up, and reluctantly stepped over, keeping his distance from the bars. "Come now, I don't bite, you need to get a little closer than that." He waved the gun, gesturing for him to move forward. Ignis complied, knowing that arguing against it wouldn't be the best course of action. "Good, now put the right side of your head against the bars, and stay still, I want to get this right the first time."

He sat the bin down and pulled out what looked like a red piece of plastic and placed it into the gun. Next thing Ignis felt was his earlobe being pulled quite harshly and a 'click' followed by a burning sting. "Wake your friend up, it's his turn."

His hand instinctively went to his ear, feeling the object that was now stuck there. Did he just get tagged? The tapping of the man's foot brought him back to his task. He crouched down next to Prompto and reached out for his shoulder, gently shaking him awake. "Hey," He greeted, "You need to wake up."

The blond groggily raised a hand, signalling that he was awake. "What?" He asked, turning his head to face the older man. His eyes immediately landed on the red earring. "What is that?" He changed that subject as he touched it with his index finger.

Impius waved the gun impatiently, "It's a little accessory that you'll be getting shortly, now get your ass over here." Prompto looked from Ignis to the other and slowly pushed himself up. "Hurry the hell up would you? I've got about six others to tag after you."

His eyes widened a little, but he tried to hide his fear and nervousness and did as he was asked; though a bit more hesitantly than he meant to. Just like Ignis, he placed his head against the bars, allowing the man to grab his ear and pierce it with a blue tag. He flinched slightly, but other than that he made no reaction. "These colors represent your jobs." He explained as Prompto stepped away, "Remove them, and you will be punished. Try to switch with someone else, and you will be punished. I'll be back through here soon enough to provide you with your necessary equipment."

He flashed the blond with a sideways smile before walking off to tag the rest of the captives. That alone was enough to cause a shiver to run through him. There was just something about him that honestly creeped him out. He felt his own earring now, rubbing it between his fingers, reality really starting to set in with that addition. "This is really happening, isn't it?" He whispered quietly, slowly sitting back down next to Ignis.

The latter took a deep breath and looked at the blond out of the corner of his eyes, "I'm afraid so." His gaze drifted to the small scratches and bruises on the side of his face, swiftly averting it before anger could resurface. "I know you don't want to hear this, but you're going to have to go along with it, do you understand?"

Prompto's hand went to his cheek, touching it gently, "Yeah." He let his hand drop into his lap and leaned his head back to stare at the ceiling, "Wonder what the others are up to."

Ignis gave a small smile, "Surely they are aware of our absence by now. Even they can't be that daft."

"You're probably right. I mean, it doesn't take over a day to walk a few miles." He stretched his arms forward and immediately flinched, quickly drawing them back in and out of sight. He had almost forgotten about that. With his other hand, he ran a thumb over his code self-consciously, glancing at Ignis to make sure he didn't see anything, fearing the worst when he was looking into his face, "Something wrong?" He asked, not missing the way he moved so quickly.

"Y-yeah, just a little sore." He let his eyes drop to the stone around them, hoping it was a reasonable enough of an excuse.

Ignis nodded at that, "Not exactly a five-star hotel, so that's to be expected."

"If that isn't true." Prompto agreed, voice cutting off at the end as he attempted to stretch again, this time hands up and behind. "Could really go for a massage right about now." He chimed up longingly. It didn't take long after that for him to feel a small pang of guilt. "Iggy?" He asked timidly.

"What is it?" Ignis inquired, giving him his full attention.

Prompto swallowed hard, taking a deep breath, "I-I'm sorry, about this."

"Prompto, this isn't your faul-"

"But it is." He quickly interrupted, looking back up and leaning forward slightly. "It is. I shouldn't have been so nosy, but I just couldn't mind my own business." He couldn't stop the quivering that entered his voice, "I'm sorry about that. We probably wouldn't be here if I just stayed in the truck like you told me to."

Ignis remained silent for a few moments, which felt like pure torture to Prompto, not knowing what the other was thinking. He didn't blame him if he was angry about it, but he wished he would just say so if he was. "Prompto." The younger drew back a little, preparing for the worst, "You can't blame yourself for this. I'm certain they were planning on this since the diner."

"Why?" Prompto asked, a little shocked by the response, "Why do you think that?"

"The tire was not by accident, it had been punctured, and I have no doubt it was those men back there."

He could only look forward through the bars as the light from the flames danced across the rock in front of them. Starting to fall into somewhat of a reverie, he was pulled out of it by the un-oiled squeak of metal wheels. He immediately shot his eyes up as a cart came into view, stopping in front of them. Impius right behind it, "You, blue tag, here, now." It took a moment for him to register that the man was talking about him.

"Oh." Prompto realized, getting up swiftly and strolling over. As he reached the bars Impius opened the cell and grabbed him by the wrist, yanking him out. He gasped in surprise, trying to pull his arm away out of reflex.

"Stop squirming." Impius demanded with another harsh jerk. Keeping his hand tightly around him, he used his other to pull a pickax out of the cart and shoved it into Prompto's free hand. "Take that, and go join the other blues." He instructed, releasing his hold only to roughly push him in the right direction. He locked eyes with Ignis until his line of sight was cut off.

Looking ahead, he saw four others standing at the end of the corridor, standing rather close to one another. That's when he noticed the other two standing with them. Two larger men, each holding a gun at their sides. Most likely to make sure everyone remained in order. He shyly walked up next to the others, making sure to keep his marked wrist close to himself and hidden from view. "That's the last one." Impius called down the hall.

"Alright." The man on the left replied. "All of you come with me, lag behind and you'll be working double." He turned his back to lead them, and the second trailed behind, making sure there were no stragglers. He went on for quite some time before finally coming to a stop in front of another corridor. "In." He gestured with his hand, and without a word, one by one, they filed in.

As they lined the walls, both men paced back and forth, keeping a close eye on each one of them. The one that spoke before gave their instructions, "This is where you will work until we say it's been long enough; it does not matter how long it's been, or how productive you are. You are done when I say you are done." He stopped once he was back near the entrance, "Now get to work. Someone will come through periodically to gather what you have mined, so keep it in a pile out of the way."

Prompto looked up and down the hall, seeing everyone reluctantly get started, but eventually they all had somewhat of a rhythm going. Gazing back at the man, he found his eyes intently on him, almost in a threatening matter. With a nervous gulp, he tightened his hands around the wooden handle, slowly drawing it back, and used the weight of it to drive it back forward into the stone. The contact shot a couple jolts up his arms, and he could already feel the coarse wood digging into his palms.

He wasn't doing this for long when more people began to file in, shuffling past him, taking a glance back, he saw that one of them was Ignis. And now that he payed attention, they were all wearing the same red earring. They locked onto each other for a moment, but quickly went on about their business. That moment of rest only served to show him how painful his hands already were. Taking his right hand away, he gazed down, seeing the beginnings of blisters already starting to form. With a hiss, he gripped the pickax once again and tried to block out the pain as he went back to it.

The hours dragged on, and each swing only brought on more stabs of pain to his hands. He was hoping that they would have at least gone numb by now, but of course he wasn't that lucky. He paused momentarily to hold the ax between his knees as he inspected his hands. He outwardly cringed at the sight. They were almost covered in blisters, and there were even a few small cuts and splinters decorating the skin. With a silent curse he forced himself to get back to work, wanting to try and stay on these guys' good side. At least for the time being.

He was almost three swings in, and a distinct clatter pulled his eyes away from what he was doing. Following the sound his gaze landed on a pickax lying nearby. Looking a little past that was an older man down on his knees. He had to be at least in his sixties. Taking a step towards him, there was a silent warning inside of him telling to stay put. Instead, he chose to watch in stillness, body tensing with the urge to help, but fought against it. This was so wrong, he didn't belong here. Why bring those who were clearly in no condition to be doing hard labor?

In a matter of seconds, the man that clearly wasn't in charge was by his side, roughly pulling him up to his feet, "Up." He demanded as he lifted him up, ignoring his cry of pain and protest. Prompto's fists clenched tighter around the handle, his anger starting to build up. He felt himself take a step without meaning to, and froze instantly, knowing it would only make things worse. With all his effort, he stepped back and looked away, doing what he could to block the scene out, but he couldn't chase away the sounds of cries and beating.

The part that unsettled him the most, was the moment it got deathly quiet, the only sound being his own heart beat, echoed by the clinging of metal against rock as the others continued their job. He risked a glance back and felt like he was going to throw up. He wasn't moving. And there was blood shining off the rock around him. His own pickax trembled in his hands and he struggled just to hold onto it. "No, no, no." He mouthed the words to himself, making sure not to speak out. The next sound was the sound of cloth against rock, and he realized with horror that they were dragging his dead body away.

"Back to work!" The main one directed towards the blond, noting now that he had ceased. "Or do you wish to have the same punishment." Prompto shook his head at once, swinging with more force than he had before, a fresh wave of adrenaline coursing through him.

Another few hours had crept by, the pains and stings they all felt long forgotten as they were numbed over from both the agony and the shock of what they had to witness. And knowing that the same could happen to them at the slightest mishap didn't do any good in heightening their spirits.

"Alright, that's enough!" The leader yelled out over the clings, "Drop everything where they are, the janitors will gather them up." There was a few clinks as others followed the order. And Prompto did the same, fingers wanting to cramp from the sudden change in position. He wanted to take another look at them, but was afraid at what they may look like, so he settled for letting them hang by his side. With that they began their grueling and downcast walk back into their cells.

* * *

Ignis swiped the back of his hand across his brow as he finished moving yet another sack full of coal, his hands and face blanketed in soot and dirt. He glanced around at the three others that had been doing the same, all wearing the same black grime as himself. With a weary sigh, he stepped forward to lift his next bag, and carry it to it's appropriate place, but Impius had returned, holding up a hand and whistling to cease their work. "That'll be it for today, get your asses out of here."

He straightened himself up, stretching out the soreness in his back prior to following the command. Taking a last glance, he couldn't help but pause on the faces of those behind him. Not one day in, and so many looked to have already given up their hope. They had already accepted what had happened and were ready to serve willingly just to live a little longer if that was their reward. He didn't understand how people could have such fragile resolves. Not that he wouldn't admit things did look to be a tad bit despairing, but it didn't mean there was no faith to be had.

Turning his gaze back in front of him, he realized they were already passing through the mining area they had come through earlier; pickaxes lined the walls. His eyes landed on each one, only breaking the contact when he felt something wet under his foot, almost causing him to slip. Quickly glancing down he made out a dark substance, and the consistency made him feel on edge. He knew it was blood; he's seen and felt enough of it in his life to know.

He couldn't suppress the shiver that ran through him. Normally this wouldn't have been an issue, but given where they were and the fact that one of his companions was just here didn't alleviate his fears in any sense. The feeling of the blood smearing with each step made him cringe inwardly with terrifying anticipation.

The trek back took a lifetime in his mind, the closer he got to his cell, the more nervous he became at possibly finding it empty. To his relief, someone else was there, the familiar blond hair aiding in calming his worries. As the door was opened, Prompto didn't look up, he remained leaning against the wall in the far corner, eyes down on the ground; not even looking up to greet Ignis.

The adviser stood in the center of their cell for a moment as the bars behind him were locked in place. "Are you alright?" He asked reluctantly when the other still didn't move. He took a step towards him, and that's when he gazed up for the first time. In his eyes, Ignis saw nothing but sorrow. "What happened?" He asked, almost regretting the question when hurt flashed across his face at the recollection.

Prompto shook his head slowly, clearly not wanting to talk about it, lying the side of his head against the rock. Ignis gave him a quick look over, making sure they didn't do anything to him in his absence. He couldn't help but notice the way he was holding his hands, palms open and facing himself as he avoided letting them curl up on themselves. Slowly strolling over, he crouched down and held out his own hand, "Let me see them." He commanded, gently, but still with some authority.

"They're fine." Prompto answered stubbornly, pulling them close to his chest, "Just a few blisters, that's to be expected though."

"Prompto, show me." He moved his hand closer and gestured for him to hand them over.

Slowly, he complied, only holding out his left, allowing Ignis to see it. He tenderly held it close to his face; the lighting was atrocious, but he could see the damage well enough. It was by no means, 'just a few blisters.' It was covered in them, some looked as though they had already burst even. Looking closer, he made out a few slivers of wood poking through the skin, some had been pushed further in from the pressure. "I need to get these out." Ignis warned, nodding to his hand.

Prompto only nodded, and tensed up, knowing it wasn't going to be pleasant. With nothing appropriate to grab them with, he had to resort trying to push them out, the best and easiest way he could. The blond winced with each grab and prod, whimpering quietly as he bit the inside of his lip. By the time Ignis was done, there were three pieces lying next to him, "Now for the other." He released that hand, but kept his extended expecting Prompto to give him his right.

"There aren't any in that one." He answered a little too quickly, holding it closer to him.

"Now, I know that's not the truth, come now, hand it over." He could be just as persistent and stubborn as the younger could be, and he had no plans of backing down. Prompto seemed to be deep in though, debating heavily if he should, but decided to just give in, he couldn't hand it forever.

Ignis took this one in his hold now, inspecting this like he had the other. The blond felt his heart speed up, knowing he could see it; it was in plain sight, but he never said anything about it. Almost as if he couldn't see it. "Luckily this one only has a couple, it won't be as bad." He flinched a bit as these were removed, thankful they weren't as painful, like Ignis had stated.

"Thanks." Prompto pulled it back to him, letting the backs of his hands rest against his knees. His eyes shot up, and Ignis' head turned at the realization that someone was standing there. Impius was gazing in. Watching.

He stood for a few second more before tossing something on the ground, "Here, also this." He threw something else in that looked like a water bottle. It was only half filled. "Don't spill it." He advised cheerfully as he strolled on. Looking to the other object, they could tell it was a chunk of bread, now painted with dirt as it rolled across the rock.

Without a word, Ignis stepped over to fetch the water, unscrewing the cap and handing it to Prompto. "Here, you first." He stopped the other from protesting before he could start, "You were doing harder work, you need more."

"Are you sure?" He asked lowly, taking the bottle between his fingers, careful of using his palms. He nodded that is was fine, so Prompto slowly took a few sips until half was gone and handed it back over.

Ignis swiftly grabbed the blond's left wrist, pulling it forward and pouring a small amount of water over the open cuts and blisters. He gasped in shock and pain, desperately pulling it away, "Wh-what are you doing?" He asked, cradling the stinging and burning limb against himself.

"The dirt needs to be rinsed out. With a lack of supplies, this is our only option. Now, give me the other one."

"N-no." He shook his head slowly, trying to back away, forgetting that he was already against the wall. "You need that."

Ignis took a quick couple of sips, and held his hand back out, "There, I've had some, now give me your hand." He didn't wait for a response, and easily overpowered the other, taking his right wrist tightly in his grasp as he did the same as before. There was another hiss of pain following. He had poured the remainder of the liquid over the wounds, making sure to get as much of the dirt out as possible. "I apologize for my coarseness, but you gave me no choice."

Prompto said nothing as he simmered in his own guilt. It wasn't his fault, but he couldn't help but blame himself. To him, that was wasted water that would have gone to better use had Ignis drank it. "It's fine." He mumbled, going back to his original position against the wall. He wasn't sure if he would have been able to sleep that night.


	4. Applicants

Noctis held the glasses in his hands, turning them ever so slowly and watching as the light reflected of them. He still didn't want to believe that these were Ignis', but they looked just like them, they had to be. He pushed himself up, holding them in one hand and gently placed them in his pocket, trading them for his cell phone. With a fast and light finger, he began dialing.

"Who are you calling?" Gladio asked, still crouched on the ground, gazing up at the prince.

Noctis finished dialing before answering, "Cindy. Hopefully she won't mind giving us a hand out here." He heard her familiar and relieving voice answer. Noctis' own voice drifted to the back of Gladio's mind as he began to get lost in thought. Standing up himself, he started pacing around, examining the ground while Noctis asked for assistance. Walking a few feet away he stepped over a couple of dark specs on the ground, and had to do a double take to see what it was. They were dark, and looked like drops. It didn't take much thought to realize it was blood. He knelt down and swiped at it with one finger, it was almost dried up.

Gazing a few more feet he saw a few footprints, and a few tire marks, both of which were leading further away from the road. He chose to follow the foot steps, which wasn't for very long before they ended, meeting up with another pair that he actually recognized. He wasn't sure who they belonged to, but he knew it was one of them. He stared at them for a moment, almost jumping as a hand fell on his shoulder. "Everything alright over here?" Noctis asked, following his stare.

"Yeah." Gladio answered, keeping his eyes down, "Any luck with Cindy?"

Noctis nodded, but didn't look too thrilled.

"Well?" Gladio asked, crossing his arms, and tearing his eyes from the scuffle embedded into the dirt to look at the other now.

"She said she's been pretty busy. It won't be until sometime later in the week until she can actually come out here to lend a hand." He looked down at his phone which was still in his hand, and carefully slipped it back into his pocket. "Until then, we'll have to search by foot."

"I have a pretty good idea about where to start." Gladio stated, waving a hand towards the tire marks. "Not sure how far they go, but it's all we got for the time being."

"Hmm." Noctis hummed in agreement, "Can't we ever just have a normal trip for once?" He asked rhetorically. He went to take a step, but was quickly stopped by the larger man, "What is it?" He asked in annoyance. Gladio only pointed up to the sky. The prince gazed up, seeing what he meant. It was already starting to grow darker; they maybe had a few more hours of daylight. "Big deal, not like we can't protect ourselves." He went to walk forward again, but this time it was Gladio's words that stopped him.

"We can, but I still wouldn't recommend it." He turned around to start heading back towards the Regalia. "We'll go get the camping supplies and stop at the first haven we see. We can head out in the morning."

"Are you serious?" He replied, trying to hold back his desperation, "We can't waste time. We have no idea where they are, or what the hell is going on."

Gladio took a deep breath, "Look, I understand how you feel, but my priority is to keep you safe, and I'm going to do just that. Now let's go, we are only wasting more precious time by standing here arguing." His word sounded final, and it was obvious there was no changing his mind.

"So what you're saying is they aren't important enough? They can be tossed aside as long as I'm safe?" His words were trenched with venom as his volume increased, "You're going to let them b-"

"Noct, that's enough!" His shield raised his voice, effectively cutting him off. "You know that's not what I meant by it. There is no point in taking risks we don't have to." He allowed himself to calm down a little before continuing, "Look, I want to get them back as much as you do, but we need to do so in a reasonable manner. And I know I have no room to talk about taking a calm stance on things, but without Ignis here, one of us has to." Without another word, he turned back around and continued walking, trusting Noctis to follow.

The latter stood for a few moments, soaking up what was just said to him, balling his hands into fists. Gritting his teeth, he finally followed suit. He stayed a few feet behind the larger man, in his own little way of rebelling, or showing that this was completely against his intuition and urgency. If the other was aware of this, he didn't let it be known as he remained silent all the way back.

Upon reaching the car, Gladio immediately grabbed what they needed out of the trunk, tossing a few things over to Noctis to carry. No way was he going to carry everything for that far. He took it willingly, still not saying anything as he grabbed hold of it. "Remember, we're stopping at the first sight we come across." Gladio reminded, closing the trunk.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." He answered irritably. He re-adjusted the equipment in his arms to get a better hold on it, "Don't worry, I'll behave like a good little prince." He added sarcastically under his breath.

"Now you're learning." Gladio teased, knowing it was only going to add to the prince's frustration. He heard him mumble something, but couldn't make it what it was, and didn't bother asking either. His mind was too distracted to really care at the moment. To be honest, he wanted to just go, the same as Noctis did, but he knew that doing so would most likely just end badly for everyone. They had to do this right, and if the right way took longer, then so be it.

By the time they had reached the location where they presumed the friends to have been taken at, the sun was getting pretty low. It had taken longer to get back than they thought it would. Either that, or it just seemed longer with the concern that clouded their sense of time. Gladio shot a glance back, "We should probably hurry."

"Really." Noctis answered flatly, "We should have hurried a long time ago." He tried not to sound too annoyed, but a little bit still shone through.

It took everything in Gladio not to reply to that. Now wasn't the time for it. If it weren't for their current situation, he would have no issue with playing along. Instead he walked on, setting a quicker pace for the both of them so they wouldn't be stuck out here in the middle of the night. He glanced past Noctis, back to where all the signs were, only holding the gaze for a few moments.

As they walked, Noctis' hand drifted back to the glasses in his pocket, for some reason, physically holding on to them provided him with some sort of comfort. Then his finger ran over the small crack and all the security he found in them was quickly diminished. "You think they're alright?" He asked, not exactly expecting a positive answer to that.

"From the looks of it, it doesn't look good." Gladio replied honestly, "But this is Ignis and Prompto we're talking about, they can handle themselves." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Noctis with that statement, "They both have pretty strong wills, they'll be fine." His eyes drifted to the ground as he spoke.

For the rest of their trek, the going was uneventful, neither of them feeling up for conversation. Soon enough the first sight of glowing markings could be seen, and they both quickened their speed, reaching the haven in a matter of minutes. They let their baggage fall to the stone, both immediately getting to setting things up. Gladio handling the fire, and Noctis the tent. Of course the shield finished his task before Noctis and had to help him finish his.

"Looks like it's noodles tonight." Noctis stated with a sigh, already missing Ignis' fine cooking.

"I'm not complaining."

"Of course you aren't." The prince replied flatly. He hesitantly took a bite of the noodles, tasting the blandness of them after having gotten used to much nicer flavors. But, it would have to be good enough.

Neither of them could finish their meals, both too preoccupied with their gnawing thoughts overshadowing everything else. "I'm going to sleep." Noctis finally announced, sitting his half-filled cup next to the fire. Gladio gave him a nod, letting him know that he heard him.

"Go ahead, I'll get things cleaned up." There was no bitterness there. He sat there for he didn't know how long with his hands interlocked and resting on his knees as he leaned forward. Staring into the flames, he could see nothing other than the events that could possibly be playing out for the others. None of which were sitting too well with him. Unsure of how long he had been sitting like that, he only moved once the fire had started to die out. That was when he figured it would be a good idea to get things put up and head to bed himself.

He was a little surprised to crawl into the tent and see the prince's eyes still open as he stared up at the roof. Carefully stepping around him, he sat next to him, looking out of the corner of his eyes, "Can't sleep?"

"No."

Gladio didn't bother asking anymore questions, already knowing the answers to them himself. He glanced around the tent, eyes landing on the glasses which Noctis had sat in the corner, most likely not wanting to risk damaging them anymore in his sleep. Forcing himself to look away, he leaned back until he was lying down, following Noctis' example in staring up at nothing.

* * *

The sun eventually rose again, but it no longer brought the cheers and hope like it once had. With it instead came the unwarranted feeling of loss. Another day of not knowing. But they pushed through it; they pushed through the thoughts of disasters and used their still clinging hop to motivate them to get started. They didn't take long to get everything packed back up and get on the move again.

Surprisingly, it was Noctis who was setting their speed, periodically increasing it every so often without noticing he was doing so. Gladio was aware though, but he left him be; he understood the stress he was under all too well, and honestly appreciated the hurry. He followed close behind the other, stopping abruptly when a crunch under his foot could be heard. Lifting his foot, he was met with some black chunks of something. Crouching down to get a closer look, he reached out and picked a few up. It didn't take a genius to realize it was a broken phone. This would explain the lack of an answer they got.

Noctis felt the absence behind him and threw a look back, seeing Gladio kneeling on the ground, "What is it?" He asked, strolling over. He didn't reply, but held up the broken device for him to see for himself.

He took it in his hand, turning it over and scanning it over. There was nothing he could say about it, they both knew what it was, so there was no point in vocalizing that. He was about to put that in his pocket as well, when Gladio expectantly tackled him to the ground, "Look out!" He yelled in the process.

"Wh-what the hell?" Noctis wheezed out under his weight, having the air knocked out of him. He turned his head at the sight of red out of the corner of his eye. "What is that?" He asked as the larger man got off, calling his weapon as he did so. Noctis reached for the object and plucked it out of the earth. It was a dart. Throwing it back to the ground, he swiftly spun his head in the direction his shield was facing and noticed the slight shine coming from between a couple boulders.

Noctis summoned his own blade, "Son of a bitch." He growled, tossing his sword towards the person. In a flash of light, it was only feet away now. He let his instincts take over and charged directly towards their attacker, and in one fluid motion he had the tip of his blade against a man's throat before he was aware of what he was doing. "Who are you?" He demanded, adding a little bit of pressure, cause a drop of blood to bead up and run down the side of his neck.

The guy only lied there and licked his dry lips, staring up at Noctis through heated eyes. He held that expression, stubbornly refusing to talk. Instead he chose to ease his right hand towards the knife at his side. In a show of rejection to the action, the sword was pressed even harder, spilling a bit more blood. At that he put his hands up, palms showing, in surrender.

"Answer me!" The prince practically yelled. In the back of his mind, he could hear running footsteps as Gladio approached, joining him by his side. He was quick to push Noctis aside, and relieved the pressure against the man's neck.

"He can't speak when the slightest movement would slice his neck open." Gladio informed, only to crouch over the man and grab him by the collar. "What the hell do you want?" He asked in the most intimidating tone he could.

His eyes flicked from one to the other as a nervous sweat slowly began to form, running down his face, "I-I missed my target, honest mistake."

Gladio tightened his hand, and pulled him closer, "Missed?! There was nothing else out there!" He ground out "Now, the truth."

He swallowed hard, and stared at the larger man, afraid to take his eyes away from him, "Hunting." He finally answered, trying to be as vague as he could, while still answering the question.

"Hunting for what?" Noctis asked, taking a step back, "Let me guess, people. Am I right?" He raised his voice, starting to lose his temper with this guy rather quickly. Gladio raised his free hand to make sure he stayed at bay.

The man only laughed quietly to himself and licked his lips again as he gazed at Noctis, but hurriedly focused back on the other, remembering he was there, "People? No, not people." He shook his head as he spoke, "Just looking for suitable applicants." He grinned at that, the idea bringing him joy.

"Applicants?" Gladio asked, completely confused, "Applicants for what?"

"They don't tell me." He answered truthfully. "They just tell me to hunt for able people. Says they would pay nicely, and they have held up that promise so far. The more capable they are, the more money I get.

"Who are they?" Noctis asked, unintentionally gripping his hilt tighter, itching to raise it once again, but Gladio's hand held him back as a warning.

"I don't know." He replied, glancing between them again. "All I know is he goes by Dominus. That's it. I hunt and meet his men to make the exchange."

"And where is that?" Gladio pressed, moving his other hand now to grip his collar with both now.

"I-I can't tell you that, they would kill me." His expression finally changed from cheerful in pure fear in a couple short seconds, "They threatened not to tell."

"Well, guess what?" Gladio started, throwing the man back on the ground to hold his own great sword at his throat now, though not as close as Noctis had, "I'll kill you right here and now if you don't tell me."

He seemed to consider it for a moment, keeping his hands up, "The-there is a group of buildings not far from here." He answered quietly, straining from the thought of sharing this information, "I meet them out back. Outside the general store."

Noctis felt pure anger run through him at that information, "Dammit!" He dismissed his weapon and began running his hands through his hair as he paced, "Are you kidding me?" He felt sick, knowing that there were others behind this. Others that they have already made contact with and didn't even know it. "We have t go back."

"Why would you want to do that?" The man asked, almost tauntingly, "Lose someone?"

"When are you supposed to meet them?" Noctis asked instead, ignoring the previous question. "And I want you to answer the first time, no more avoiding."

He gulped in response as a second blade hung over his neck. "T-tomorrow." He answered finally, "No particular time, I just go there and wait." Noctis nodded and pulled his blade away, dismissing it.

"Let's go." He turned to Gladio, beginning to walk away, but without warning, he paused and spun back around on the ball of his foot. The shield didn't know what happened until he heard a distinct crack and saw him drawing his hand back away from the man's face. He slumped back on the ground as blood flowed freely from his nose. "Ok, now we can go."

Gladio didn't say anything about that, but this point, it was taking everything he had in him not to do the same. They left the man there, letting him live. If anything happened while he was unconscious, well, it wasn't on them what happened. "So, we have a day to get back, if we hurry, we may be able to reach the road by nightfall. Though, I wouldn't suggest traveling at night, even if we are on the road."

"Doesn't matter." Noctis answered, "We can reach that damn store by then, no need to move at night." He slipped his hand in his pocket to feel the items in there, and took of sprinting back towards the outpost, not caring if Gladio was behind him or not.


	5. Impius

**Alright, so this is the chapter with the implied rape, and I will admit, hard for me to write, even just implying hurt. XD But here it is.**

 **This is just another warning.**

* * *

Prompto sat there for a few hours at least, letting the back of his hands rest against his knees as he stared through the bars watching the flames flicker. He maybe slept for an hour at the most, but was unable to go to back to sleep. Every time he shut his eyes, flashes of that man being beat and his cries of pain filled his senses. So, since he woke up, he resorted to staring at the opposite wall, trying not to think of anything, and instead focus on the way the light reflected of the damp rocks.

His eyes drifted to Ignis, who was lying on his side, who had only been asleep for maybe a couple hours, not falling asleep until Prompto had woken up. He sighed and looked back to his hands, the blood and other fluids had dried up long ago. Flexing his fingers, he winced as the crust pulled at the open wounds. He bit the inside of his lip to stay quiet, knowing Ignis needed as much sleep as possible.

The bread that was tossed in was still sitting there, moisture had now soaked through it, making it look even more unappetizing than it had before. After a few minutes of staring at that, his eyes unwilling began to feel heavier as they slowly started sliding closed. Moments before they could, a noise down the corridor made them snap back open. The same sound also seemed to pull Ignis out of his sleep.

The blond kept his gaze locked on the bars, preparing himself for what was to come this time. Eventually his eyes landed on Impius who now came into view. The latter met the gaze and held it before uttering the words, "Blue, time to go." He didn't argue, nor did he waste time as he made his way over, giving Ignis a quick glance on his way, who in turn watched on warily.

Impius reached a hand through the open door and snatched him the rest of the way out before hastily closing and locking it back. Prompto had to grab the man's arm to keep from falling over from the sudden momentum. The other was quick the grab the back of his collar, hoisting him back to his feet. "Keep your filthy hands off me." The next thing he knew he was pushed up against the wall, one of the man's hands gripped around his neck, and the other on the rock next to his head. Leaning in close to his ear he whispered, "You don't get to lay your hands on us. But me, I can do whatever the hell I want."

Prompto shuddered under his grasp, his breath brushing past his hair and causing it to stand on end. He whimpered quietly as his hand grew slightly tighter, but made no move to try and fight him off. Instead he closed his eyes tightly and instinctively pressed himself closer to the rock behind him. "The fear is only making this more fun for me." Impius added. The blond's own heart rate increased drastically, and he couldn't control his own breathing anymore.

"Impius!" A voice echoed off the walls, "That is quite enough." It was one of the men from the day before, the one Prompto assumed to have beaten that man to death. He wasn't sure if he should be glad he came along or not. "Have your fun when it's not cutting in to our time." With a large hand, he placed it on his chest and shoved him away, effectively freeing Prompto. The larger man cut his eyes over to him and nodded toward the end of the corridor, "Go now." As he eagerly walked away, the leader turned back to Impius, "Now, finish getting the others."

Impius glared at him for a few moments and gave him a forced smile and bow, "As you wish, Princeps." He said shakily, turning around, jumping slightly when he was faced with an unexpected surprise. "What the hell is your deal?" He said to Ignis, who was staring daggers at him, hands clung to the bars, shaking with the effort. "Oh calm down will you. I was gentle." He flashed him a smirk and strolled past to the next cell. "Blue." Ignis heard him call, but the rest was drowned out as his rage on built up.

Ignis kept his eyes fixated on him until he was out of sight, though his anger remained intact. He waited where he was as more miners moved down to join the others, and eventually the slimy bastard himself drifted by, and he wished more than ever he had his daggers. It would take nothing to just toss one through the bars in his direction. He threw Ignis a sideways glance and grin, "Don't you worry, I'm coming back."

And he made sure to keep to that promise, not long he came back for the red tags. He heard him as he stopped at a few other cells before finally reaching his. Ignis' fists were balled up at his sides. And, as soon as his door opened, and didn't hesitate to swing forward with his right hand. A loud and unmistakable click sounded as he felt something metallic and cold press against his chest, causing him to freeze mid-punch.

"Now, now, that's no way to behave." Impius warned, clicking his tongue. "Pull this shit again, and I will shoot. But I won't stop there." He pulled the gun away and held it up near his head, barrel pointing towards the ceiling, and Ignis recognized it as Prompto's gun. "First, I'll shoot you, then I'll kill your little friend." He waved the gun in the air, "Do I make myself clear?"

Reluctantly, Ignis lowered his hand, letting it hang by his side. Impius pointed his thumb in the direction of the others, and he slowly brushed past the other, making his way over as instructed. He could hear the man's snide chuckle behind him, nothing but a coward hiding behind the reassurance of a loaded weapon.

He waited with the others while Impius gathered the others, ready to lead them back to storage. They all had the same hopeless expressions as before, if not even more so. Soon the last of them stepped up next to him, and following that was the snake himself, pushing his way through to the front, getting ready to herd his sheep to their daily work.

* * *

He stood in his usual spot, Princeps standing in his, swearing under his breath. He turned to the other, "Stay here and keep an eye on them, that idiot was too fucking preoccupied and forgot to give them their tools." He nodded and crossed his arms over his chest as he waled away. Prompto hesitantly glanced back to where 'it' happened, noticing with relief that the blood had been cleaned up. Not a trace was left behind.

Sooner than he would have liked, Princeps returned with the cart, rolling it down the corridor, handing each of them a pickax. Upon receiving them, one by one, they automatically got to work. A few hisses and whines of pain sounded with the action as all their hands were still pretty sore from the previous day. Once his own was in his hands, all of the blisters and cuts screamed at him to put it down, but he forced those protests away and joined the others.

And just like before, the other group filed in, walking past them Prompto's entire body stiffening up as a hand ran through his hair as it passed by. He didn't even bother looking back, already knowing who it was. A quick chill ran through him and he responded by swinging harder, hoping that the extra effort would help distract his mind. So focused on his task, he was vaguely aware of a small stream of blood trailing down the handle. He couldn't help but drop his pickax as the new cut let itself known with a stab of pain.

"Dammit." He muttered, quickly crouching to pick it back up before anyone could notice. Luckily no one did, or if they did, they didn't act on it. Feeling fresh blood drip off the side of his hand, he tried wiping it on his shirt, only making it sting more. It left behind a small smear of red in its wake as he wrapped it back around the handle. He ignored the objection from his skin and kept up us work.

This session seemed to go by much faster than the other. He wasn't sure if it was because they didn't work as long, or if it was because he was zoned out for the majority of it, but whichever it was, he was tankful for it. The order for them to cease has been made, and they were all sitting their tools aside for the janitors to clean up. Being at the end of the line, he was the last to file up. As they made their first steps, he realized that maybe expelling all that energy wasn't such a good idea after as he was assaulted with dizziness. Placing a hand against the rock to keep himself from falling over, he saw as the others slowly grew further away.

He pushed himself away from the surface, everything in him warning him about what consequences there are to lagging behind. Feeling himself tilt dangerously to the other side, he reached out and was surprised when he actually caught onto something. He let his gaze wonder up, landing on a face. His vision was still a bit out of focus, but he didn't need clarity to know who it was. "My, my, you really can't keep your hands off me, can you?"

His mind instantly screamed at him to get away, but his legs didn't want to react. There was a firm grip on his upper arm as another hand slid under his chin, holding his head up. "L-let go." He was finally able to get out, yanking his arms away as strongly as he could, but it wasn't enough. It didn't even phase Impius. He grunted as he tried again, more desperately, drawing his other hand back to, ready to drive it forward.

"Fight back, and I can't promise the other man's safety." He warned confidently, using the same trick he had on Ignis. He gave a soft chuckle at the expression on the blond's face, "That's what I thought." He began walking in the opposite direction, pulling Prompto along with him, "Come now, I swear I'll have you back in your cell soon enough."

* * *

Ignis was lead back to his cell, walking in slowly as the door was closed behind him. Gazing around it immediately hit him that it was empty. He had expected Prompto to be here, or that's how it was last time, and he assumed these people would stick to some sort of schedule. But, the thing that stuck out to him, is he was sure he walked past cells that had people with blues tags. So, he should be here.

With dread screaming at him, he spun around and reached out a hand, grabbing the man who had locked the cell before he could get too far away. "Where the hell is he?" He asked without thinking.

"Where is who?" He replied with a question, clearly annoyed with the abrupt questioning.

"There is another man who was here with me, and he's not here." Ignis ground out, unintentionally tightening his hold, "So tell me, where is he?"

The other quickly snatched his hand away, drawing his dagger and pointing it in the adviser's direction, "I'd suggest backing up. I don't know where your buddy is, but if he's not here, then he's probably dead. Not exactly a rare thing down here. After all, you guys can easily be replaced. So, remember that next time you decide to put your hands on one of us."

Ignis' hand hovered for a moment, this bit of information not sitting well at all. He thought he was angry before, but it was nothing compared to what he felt now. Lost in his own emotions, he didn't realize when the man had wondered off, leaving him alone to simmer. The man stood where he was, not moving an inch, not feeling up to doing anything.

After sometime, he found himself pacing around the small area, periodically slamming a hand against the bars in an attempt to resolve some of his pent up aggression. And as expected, it had little to no effect. Eventually he convinced himself to go sit against the wall as walking around was only working to rile him up even more. As soon as he did so he heard the cell door open. That was odd, he never heard anyone approach. "Here, maybe you can teach him how to behave."

Ignis looked up in time to see Impius roughly toss Prompto in by his collar, who landed hard on the rocky surface. He was next to him in an instant almost forgetting about the other man at the door. His hands hung over him for a moment, careful to touch him in case he was hurt anywhere. The sound of the metal closing pulled his attention back for a moment, "What did you do?" He asked, staying where he was, but the bite behind his words was enough to sense his fury.

Impius said nothing as he locked the door and tossed in a chunk of bread and a half bottle of water like he had before. He leisurely strolled on to provide the scarce provisions to the rest of the captives.

Not wanting to dwell on it too much, Ignis turned back to Prompto who had now turned to his side, a vacant look behind his eyes. "Prom?" He asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. The blond hastily slapped it away, sitting up to drag himself backwards and away.

"Don't touch me!" He cried out, breaths coming out quick and shallow. "Just stay away." he added, voice breaking as water pricked at his eyes. Ignis could only watch from a distance as he drew his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. "Please." Ignis could hear the shaking and pleading behind the single word.

Ignoring his request, Ignis cautiously inched closer, "Prompto, you know I'm not going to hurt you." He held out a hand, and hated himself for doing so when the other flinched away from it.

"I-I know. I know." Prompto strained to speak, not wanting weakness to shine through. "I just want to be alone." Ignis gave him a quick scan, noticing the new bruises he wore, but one in particular stood out to him. The bruise around his neck. I remembered the way Impius had held him earlier, but it wasn't enough to leave a bruise like that. There were also a few on his face, ones he assumed had developed from being hit.

"I need you to answer me." Ignis said, quietly and calmly. He kept his face down so Prompto couldn't see the hatred in his eyes, "Did he do anything to you?" The change in his breathing and lack of a response was enough of an answer. He got back up to his feet and stepped away to fetch the water. Keeping a good distance from the other, he gently rolled it over. He jumped slightly when it bumped his foot. "Drink."

Prompto hesitated before relaxing enough to pick up the bottle, automatically dropping it with the pain it brought on. Ignis caught a glimpse of his hands in that short instance. They looked far worse than they had that morning. Without a word, he slowly stepped over, glad to see that he didn't flinch away this time, and picked the water back up. As he screwed the lid off he saw the slight red smear across it. "Can you hold it?" He asked.

The blond nodded, holding out one hand and grabbing it with his finger tips this time. He only took a few sips this time and handed it back. Noticing the look Ignis was giving him, he quickly defended, "You need some too, you didn't have enough yesterday." He closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

He didn't argue and took the offered water, drinking about half as Prompto watched, making sure he actually did it. "There." Ignis said, crouching back down. The other still flinched slightly, but he could see he was trying his best not to do so. "Now, you know the drill, hands." He held out his own, and without fighting it this time, he allowed him to see them.

It hurt Ignis just looking at them. The majority of the blisters had been ripped open, and the ones from last time looked slightly inflamed. He pushed aside his concerns and went about removing the new splinters, obviously causing more agony than he had before. "Sorry." He muttered after the about the fourth cringe.

"S'fine." Prompto mumbled, eyes still closed in exhaustion. He sighed deeply and afterwards he fell completely quiet and the tension in his muscles subsided as his breathing evened out.

Ignis didn't bother him and let him sleep, though it did worry him when he didn't react when he rinsed out the wounds. Then he ripped off a couple strips from his own clothing, and tied them loosely around his hands, still allowing them to breathe a little. As gently as he could, he maneuvered him to lie on his side, knowing he would feel it in the morning if he slept all night like that. Once that was done, he picked up the new chunk of bread and ripped off the portion that was damp from the floor and placed it on his leg when he sat on the other side of the cell.

As little sleep as he had gotten, he no longer felt tired. His body was, he knew it was, but his mind and anger wouldn't allow him to get any rest. Feeling a new need to make sure nothing else happened, he forced himself to stay awake as he kept his eyes on the door, just waiting for the bastard to come back.


	6. Lies and Betrayals

**Sorry this took so long, but it has been quite the week. Been busy with art, as well as finishing up my costume for a con, and cleaning, but here it is. C:**

* * *

The two of them kept their distance, watching the store from afar and doing what they could to stay hidden and out of sight. So far, after a few hours they had seen nothing, but it was still pretty early in the evening, so they didn't really expect to see anything just yet. Surprisingly, they had gotten back quite a bit sooner than they had expected, then again, they did practically sprint the whole way back. Noctis shifted slightly from one foot to the other, still crouched where he was. His legs were starting to get a bit stiff now from standing so still for so long. Gladio, on the other hand, seemed to be having no issues with it. The prince would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit jealous of that ability of his. But, he was determined to stay right there until someone showed up like the man said they would. If not, he was personally going to hunt him down and make him pay for the misinformation.

A few times the owner could be seen stepping outside to smoke, and a few other times to move things between the store and the shed out back, but other than that, nothing was going on. Nothing that elicited suspicion anyway. Noctis watched as the few shadows that were around slowly began to stretch across the earth, soon to blend into the night. "I swear, if he lied to us just to save his own damn neck." He said under his breath with some bite to it.

"Even if he did, we would probably never find him." Gladio responded, "He would be long gone by now."

Noctis balled up one of his fists, "Trust me, I would find him one way or another." He took a deep breath to calm down before he let his emotions get the better of him, "See anything anywhere?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Seen as much as you have." He glanced around just to be sure.

With that being said, he finally took a seat on the ground, crossing his legs as he did so, "Well, guess we are staying right here until someone shows up."

Gladio did the same, "You do what you want, but if no one shows up by morning, I'm moving on and looking elsewhere. Not going to waste my time waiting for something that may not even happen."

The other said nothing in response, and instead kept his gaze focused on the small building, not wanting to risk missing a single thing, no matter how small it may be. It was about another hour before something finally caught his eye. Standing up, he didn't say a word as he stepped around to the other side of the boulder they were by, trying to stay unnoticed as he did so. Gladio watched from his position, missing what it was that the other must have seen.

Noctis leaned around the rock, hand resting on the side of it as he squinted, trying to see what it was that pulled him. Then he realized it was a glare from headlights. He must have caught a glimpse of them before they had gone down the hill and out of sight. But he could see them once again as they now grew closer. He couldn't tell what kind of vehicle it was at that moment, but it was enough to give him a bit of new hope.

By now, the larger of the two had become aware of it as well; he got to his feet and joined by the prince's side. "Do you suppose that's them?" He asked as the last rays of light were slowly fading and the night was now fully starting to take over.

"I don't know." Noctis asked, trying not to get his hopes up too much, "If it is, they're going to regret coming here." Gladio glanced over, both appreciating and disapproving of the hatred his eyes held. It was nice to see some dedication to protect those he cared about, but the fact that he could easily get carried away didn't leave a nice image. He made to go forward.

"Wait." His shield warned, stopping him. "Wait to see what they're up to before you charge in." He took a authoritative step in front of him, to which the other took note of, but chose not to comment on it for the time being.

He chose to just nod, giving in to the others way of doing things. It wasn't how he would have gone about it had he been alone, but it was easier to at least try to work together on this. With their rising tension, it seemed to take far too long for the oncoming vehicle to finally be recognizable as a truck, a light blue one at that. As it got a few feet closer, a light sheet draped over the back was now visible. And, to their relief, it did slow down as it approached the general store, pulling in around back.

"That's enough for me." Noctis declared, shoving past Gladio to make his way across the road.

He was right behind him, easily keeping pace, "Give it a moment, will you?" He asked rhetorically, grabbing his shoulder.

"A moment for what?" Noctis hissed back. "What exactly are you waiting for? We can't just wait forever when we finally have some sort of sign."

Gladio said nothing and just nodded towards the truck for the prince to look. Turning his head back around, he felt his heart fall a bit. "W-what?" He asked in disbelief. He could only stare and watch as the owner stepped up to the back of the truck, and pulled back the sheet. It was just bags, bags covered in soot. The driver stepped out and joined in unloading the bags of coal.

"It's just a supplier." Gladio stated obviously, allowing his hand to slide away and fall to his side. "Come on, we can wait a bit longer if you want." He said, turning around and headed back to the cover of the boulder.

"Dammit!" Gladio turned back around just in time to see Noctis sprinting forward full speed.

"Noct?! What the hell are you doing?!" He followed him, surprisingly having a hard time even keeping up with the younger man, let alone actually catching him. He didn't reach him until they were both standing before the stunned duo, who had stopped mid lift.

"Who are you?" The driver asked, dropping a bag to the ground, letting dust puff out from the impact.

The owner crossed his arms in clear annoyance, "I thought I told you two, I don't know where your friends are, so please, take your leave or I will use force."

"You're a damn liar!" Noctis raised his voice, calling his blade and pointing it towards the man's chest, movements quick and precise. He held himself to appear as threatening as he could. "Your other 'supplier' told us everything. I know about your little exchanges!" To emphasize his point, he pressed the tip of the sword against him, forcing him to take a step back to avoid being cut.

The owner put his hands up, showing he knew nothing and had no plans on resorting to violence any longer, "Look, I have no idea what you're talking about." His voice took on a different tone.

Noctis grit his teeth, "Why don't I believe you?"

Gladio stepped in now, stopping things before it got out of hand, "Noct, that's enough, you're harassing this man." He placed his hand over Noctis' and pushed down, taking the blade away from his chest as he did so. "You'll have to excuse him." Gladio stated, turning to the owner now, "He's been a bit rash lately, you understand." He attempted at a suitable apology. The man only nodded in response, reflexively rubbing his chest where he could still feel the presence of the blade.

"Gladio, what are you doing?" Noctis snatched his hand away, blade still in it, "He's not telling us everything, I know he's hiding something!"

"Just stop it!" The larger burst out, losing his patience, "This is why we don't charge in, you are making a fool of yourself. Now let's go and try elsewhere." He placed a firm hand on Noctis' shoulder and turned him around, leading him away from the others. Of course, he didn't go willingly, it took some effort to get him just to go a few feet.

They had made it a few yards away, and they would have missed it if they hadn't already heard it before. As the owner paid for the goods, the thing he said stuck out to both Noctis and Gladio. "Let Dominus know I appreciate the discounts, not sure I could afford this otherwise."

It took less than a second for both of them to pull a full one-eighty. Gladio didn't even try to hold Noctis back this time, now feeling the fury he did for himself this time. "What the hell did you just say?!" Noctis growled out, blade back in its previous position, only now it was digging into the man's skin. "Dominus, who is he?" He demanded, clearly not in the mood for anymore lies. Gladio was by his side, summoning his own weapon and holding it up to the other man to keep him at bay.

"H-he's just someone I buy my coal fro-"

"Bullshit!" Noctis drove his sword forward, causing the man to fall backwards in an attempt to avoid being stabbed through.

"Ok, ok." He replied, holding his hands up in feeble protection, "He gives me discounts and in return I allow him to make his trades in relative secret. He comes here to gather his product, and I stay quiet so I can get my product for cheaper."

This didn't sit well with either of them. "These are people!" Gladio grabbed his target and shoved him against the side if the truck, rough enough to knock the breath out of him. "They aren't 'product'."

"Where is he?" The prince asked, crouching down and moving the tip of the blade from the owner's chest to under his chin, "And I want a straight answer." He made eye contact with him, almost daring him to look away. They remained like that for some time, the man swallowing hard out of nervousness.

He slowly shook his head, "I'm sorry, I honestly don't know." He flinched as Noctis' expression shifted into that of annoyance, "I promise!" He quickly defended. "I've never met the man, he always sends others to make the trades." A drop of sweat slowly rolled down the side of his face, and Noctis reluctantly eased his blade away, deciding to believe his words. Instead he turned to the guy Gladio had pinned

"But you know where he is?" He asked, getting closer.

The guy glanced over at him, but quickly focused back on Gladio, finding him far more intimidating at the moment, "M-maybe." He stuttered. His fear betrayed his brave front.

"I suggest you figure it out." Gladio added on, adding more pressure, making breathing for the man rather difficult. His eyes drifted past the man and hovered over the bags that were still in the back, and they landed on a few stains of red that adorned the burlap material. He tried not to linger on that too much, knowing it would do nothing but infuriate him further if he questioned it.

He thought about it a moment longer before finally answering, "I can take you to a certain point, but I can't take you the whole way. I can't risk anyone thinking I betrayed them. You understand." He spoke softly, as if mentioning this would automatically brand him as a traitor among them.

"I don't care, as long as you get us somewhere." Noctis backed off a little now that they were getting some cooperation. "But whatever you do, you better do it quick." He dismissed his blade to allow the man to get back to the driver's side, Gladio staying close to him, making sure he didn't try to make any breaks for it.

The prince gave one more look towards the owner, giving him a glare to let him know this was the only chance he was giving him. That if he did one more thing to push him, then there would be no more mercy. He only tore his eyes away long enough to open his side and slide into the passenger's seat. In a matter of seconds Gladio was next to him, hand still gripping the man's collar as he didn't plan on releasing him any time soon. Not until they were well on their way anyway.

"How far is it from here?" Gladio asked, giving the shirt a solid tug.

He started the truck and pulled out before answering, "I have to take the back roads, so it may not be until tomorrow afternoon or so."

Gladio was quickly losing his own patience now, "Any chance you can get us there at a reasonable time?" He asked, tone all but kind.

"I can't, not taking chances at being seen by those unwanted." He glanced over at the larger of the two, "Could you...um, remove your hold? Don't want distractions while I'm driving." He hesitated, but he did comply as he slowly uncurled his fingers and let the material fall back against the man. "Thanks." He mumbled, pulling on his collar to straighten the now wrinkled fabric.

* * *

The transition from night to day had begun, and the three of them were still turning off onto more side roads. At this point, Noctis had lost track of how many turns they had made, or where they even were anymore. They could be going in a completely different direction and he wouldn't know any better anymore. He had been staring out the window for some time now, losing track of time as he did so, but so far he's seen nothing that would indicate they were getting anywhere. Everything looked the same to him. Just endless stretches of sand and rock.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked skeptically, beginning to doubt this decision.

The man gave a deep sigh, "Look, if I don't show up with the money, it's my ass. So yes, I'm sure. I'm not going to disappear with his money, it would be a death sentence." From the sound of it, he seemed serious about it. Noctis also didn't miss the way he would occasionally glance up at the rear view mirror. He was quite the paranoid type.

"Expecting someone?" He asked after the third glance in the last hour.

"Hmm?" The man questioned as his response. Seeing Noctis nod towards the mirror he understood, "Oh, no." He paused for a few seconds, "Not exactly."

"What do you mean, 'Not exactly'." Gladio cut in.

He took a deep breath and glanced at the mirror again, "This isn't exactly the cleanest of work." He ignored the scoffs from the other two. "You never know what might happen. You tend to make a few enemies in this line of business."

"Can't imagine why." Noctis said to himself, but not low enough for the others not to hear. He turned back to stare out the window aimlessly, drifting back into his thoughts. He didn't care too much for anymore idle conversation, just the sound of the guy's voice was beginning to grate on his nerves already. Who, in turn, also fell silent, Noctis' body language telling him it was the right idea.

Despite feeling as though he hadn't slept in days, he forced himself to stay awake, not even allowing his eyelids to fall half-way closed. All of this still seemed so hard for him to believe. It just didn't feel real to him. Even with all this proof and evidence, it was still unbelievable that two of his friends, which were fully capable of handling themselves, would be able to be taken like that.

He wasn't sure how much more time had passed, everything had blurred together and blended into one. But the sudden stop had pulled him out of it. He tore his gaze from the window to cast it in the direction of the others.

Without begin asked, the man answered the silent question, "This is as far as I can take you." He put the truck in park, and leaned back, waiting for the others to hurry up and get out, "If I take you any further, I'll be in danger of being spotted by others."

"Thanks, I guess." Noctis opened his door and stepped out, followed closely by Gladio.

"Alright, if you keep heading in this direction, you'll reach the mines eventually." With that he started off once again as soon as the door was closed, wasting no time in getting away from the others.

And like him, Noctis and Gladio were quick to start in the same direction, following the now fresh tire tracks closely. They kept this up for hours, never so much as taking a break. Thanks to their determination, nothing else really mattered aside from reaching their destination. They would have plenty of time later to catch up on rest, but for now it would have to wait.

It wasn't until about midday when they could finally make out something in the distance, but it was still too far to really see what exactly it was. But they could at least tell that it was rock formations, which gave them a bit of hope. The closer the got the more details they could pick up on, and eventually could make out the entrance. This was definitely the mines. But there was something off about it.

They both came to a stop to view the sight, Gladio taking a few extra steps closer, "It-it's completely abandoned." He looked at the entrance, and how clumps of foliage now decorated the area around it. The little shack to the right was even boarded up. "This can't be the right place, there's nothing."

Noctis pushed past him anyway, "We still have to try." Was all he said as he continued walking. not second guessing this anymore. Going back wasn't an option, not at this point. "We won't know for sure until we check it out. So, with or without you, I'm going in."


	7. Pleads

**This is the chapter I have been most looking forward to writing, so hopefully you enjoy. o3o**

* * *

Time passed by quite slowly, different possible scenarios ran through Ignis' wandering mind as he sat there in silence. He kept his eyes on Prompto for the majority of the night, watching his breathing, and his subtle shifts every now and then. There were a few times where his eyes were squeezed more tightly than others, and in those moments he was certain earlier events were running through his mind in his sleep. This assumption only served and building up his already boiling temper. A small mumble dragged him out of his thoughts and his eyes connected with Prompto's still closed ones.

Ignis kept his distance as the blond was slowly waking up. Upon looking closer, it didn't go unnoticed the slight wetness adorning the corners of his eyes. Without any signs of warning, he shot upright, breathing heavily and lightly shaking. He looked almost terrified. Prompto kept his gaze fixated on the bars across from him, looking past them, almost like he was expecting someone to come through. Which as far as Ignis could tell, that's exactly how it was. He gave the other a moment to compose himself before reaching out. As soon as Ignis' hand made contact, he instantly regretted it.

He reacted in the same way he would if he were touched by acid. The immediate reflex he had was to get away. His body acted on its own as he flinched away from the touch, quite violently, and backed into the corner, pressing himself against the rock. In his eyes, there was nothing but fear and sorrow. "Don't." Was all he whispered out, any louder and he was afraid his voice would break. He placed one hand against the wall to his right, automatically hissing in pain and pulling it away.

"Prom." Ignis started, staying where he was, "Please, you know I would never do anything to you." The other didn't respond, but kept his gaze focused on him. "Just let me help, alright?"

Prompto looked from Ignis to his hands, then to the bars and back to Ignis before slowly nodding. He picked up the chunk of bread and held it in one hand. As he carefully and cautiously made his way over, his eyes stayed on him, never blinking. He watched the older man's every movement and would wince slightly if any of them seemed a bit faster than he was comfortable with. When he finally made it over he took one of Prompto's hands in his own and began to tenderly pull the cloth away. He let out a small whimper every time the material pulled on one of the wounds it clung to.

"I'm sorry, there wasn't much I could do for them with our limited supplies." Ignis gave a quick scan around their cell, "But this is all I could think of to help keep them relatively clean." Lifting up the last layer he was faced with angrier looking blisters, ones that left behind a yellowish residue on the fabric. Sighing deeply, he did the same with the other hand, getting the same results. "We need actual medical equipment, but this will have to suffice." He tossed aside the soiled strips to tear away a couple more.

The blond sat in silence while Ignis worked on wrapping his hands back up. Once that was done, Ignis lifted the bread from his lap, "Here, you should eat this. It's a little stale, but it's still fine."

He stared at the offered food for a second, but cast his gaze away, "I'm not hungry." Drawing his knees, he wrapped his arms around them and placed his head against them.

"It's been nearly three days, you need to eat something." Ignis retaliated, holding it closer.

Prompto only sniffed once and stubbornly stayed in his protective position. "Prompto." Ignis tried to get his attention back on him. "Come on n-"

"I said no!" He backhanded it away, striking Ignis' hand harder than the older man expected. The noise resounded off the walls as the bread rolled a few feet away, and Prompto's face fell after a moment of realization. "I-I..." He couldn't find the words as he stared at Ignis. Instead he settled for shaking his head and letting it drop back against his knees.

Ignis reached a hand towards him, but pulled it away when the all too familiar sound filled the corridor. "Everyone up!" He was instantly drawn to the source as the squeak of the cart wheels grew closer. Out of the corner of his vision, he could still make out the way Prompto seemed to shrink further against the walls. Soon enough he could see the despicable face show itself around the corner, and it took everything he had not to go up to him right then and there.

Impius dragged the cart behind him, and glanced towards the two of them, "Blue, come on up." He said a little too snarky for Ignis' liking. But the thing that bothered him even more was the fact that Prompto actually did as he was told. He got to his feet and slowly made his way over. The moment he was close enough, just like before, he was forcefully yanked out by his wrist, and a pickax was shoved against his chest. The blond tentatively wrapped his hands around it.

All it took was for Impius to place his hand around Prompto's arm for Ignis to act without thinking. He didn't realize what he was doing until he felt his fist connect with flesh. He gazed down at Impius who was now on the ground, one hand rubbing the side of his face. Taking a step back, he couldn't deny that it felt good, but he also knew how much of a mistake that was.

Impius laughed a bit to himself, pulling out the gun and aiming it straight at Ignis as he worked his way back up to his feet, "Feisty little bastard, ain't ya?" He moved a lot quicker than the other two expected, and with one fluid motion, he slammed the gun against the side of Ignis' head, effectively knocking him down. "You don't put your hands on me!" He shouted, bringing the gun down again. "I already warned you and your little buddy once, lay your hands on me, and you pay the price." He stood at his full height and aimed the barrel towards the man's head, using both hands to hold it steady.

Ignis already had his hands up, using the to shield his face, anticipating the shot. And like he expected, it sounded, rather loudly. His ears rang with the shot, but he felt nothing, no pain. Something wet dripped onto his hands and slowly, he opened his eyes. Red flowed over his fingers, dripping down onto his face and neck. He removed them from his vision, still seeing Impius standing above him. He still couldn't hear anything, but could see blood streaming down the side of his face and dripping off his chin. The man then leaned dangerously to the side, slumping to the ground where he lied there limply. Ignis could only stare in shock, eyes finally searching out the cause of this. A pickax protruded from his skull, and it looked to be dug in pretty deep.

"Wh-what did I do?" Prompto's voice pulled Ignis back to him. His own face was peppered with the red liquid, and he had his arms tightly around himself, "I didn't mean to." He fell to his knees heavily and stayed there staring at nothing. Breathing speeding up, he fell forward, catching himself on his hands. Ignis could only watch as the younger gagged and dry heaved, completely overwhelmed with his own actions.

Quickly forcing himself to get over it, Ignis crawled closer to him, "You had to do it." He assured him. On his way over the shine of the dropped gun caught his attention, and with a quick glance around, he grabbed it and stuck it in his waistband, pulling his shirt over it.

"No I didn't." The blond wheezed out from between heaves, "I didn't have to." He coughed a few more times and pushed himself back up to sit. Staring down at his own hands, which were shaking again, he landed on his bar code and scratched unconsciously at it. Shaking his head, he repeated, "I didn't have to."

Ignis took a drawn out breath, "If you didn't, he would have killed me. You saved my life, Prompto." He sat between him and Impius, trying to cut off his line of sight if even just by a small amount. Extending one hand forward, he began wiping the blood he could from his face. "Everything will be fine, I promise."

He felt so tired, and without a thought, he let himself fall forward, resting his forehead against Ignis' shoulder. And of course, the other allowed this, allowed him to seek out what little comfort he could in this godforsaken place. He felt a small tremble run through him, followed by another, and it took him a moment to realize that Prompto was crying silently. Obviously trying to fight against it, but losing the battle. Out of instincts, he began running his fingers through his hair, attempting to calm him at least a little if he was able. "Everything will work out." Ignis assured.

There was a small shift of his head, which Ignis assumed to be a nod. They both stiffened at the sound of another set of footsteps rushed towards them. The remained in their position as the eventually reached them, "Wha-what the hell happened?" Prompto never looked up, but he recognized Princeps voice. He could hear the door being thrust the rest of the way open as he stepped through. "Which one of you did this?" To their surprise he didn't sound too distraught over it, but more annoyed than anything.

Prompto finally raised his head to face the larger man, "I-I'm sor-"

"It was me." Ignis interrupted, getting up to his feet. He threw a quick look down to Prompto, who looked utterly stunned, and then back at Princeps, "I killed him." He spoke confidently. Making eye contact, he added, "He had it coming."

"Step outside." Was all he responded with, stepping to the side to allow Ignis to get by. "It doesn't matter how it happened, it still happened, and your actions cannot go unpunished." He cast his eyes down to Prompto, "You stay here."

Prompto was up before Ignis could reach the door and gripped Princeps wrist, "No!" He clung on desperately, eyes locked onto Princeps, "Please, no, it wasn't him!"

"Legatus!" Princeps called, while trying to pry the blond away, "Get over here, we have a bit of a situation." Soon the other man from the mines was there, Pulling Prompto away and holding him back. "Get him to settle down and then get the rest of the blues ready to work. Leave that one here, he'll be nothing but trouble if you bring him along."

As Princeps stepped out with Ignis, Prompto fought against the other man non-stop, trying his best to free himself, "Come back!" He yelled, voice breaking from tears he fought back, "Please, he did nothing wrong, it was me! I killed him!" He tried kicking the man behind him, barely hitting his target, "Let go, you have this wrong." He was quickly tiring himself out, losing his volume as he did so.

He grew relatively still once he felt something cold and sharp held against his throat, "Stop squirming." Legatus warned, "Keep this up, and I'll cut your tongue out, understand?"

He ignored this threat, "Stop!" He shouted towards Princeps, who was now almost out of view. "You need to stop them." He said quieter, "He didn't do it." He gave a final attempt at breaking free by throwing his head back, feeling it connect with the man's face. That was enough for him to loosen his hold and Prompto took his chance to slip free. "He didn't do!" He repeated, louder this time. He only managed to make it a couple feet until there was a firm arm around his neck, holding on a little too tightly for comfort.

"I told you to stop the squirming." Legatus said through clenched teeth, holding the blond's head more firmly this time to prevent him from lashing out in the same manner. He tensed up his arm a bit more, while using his free one to wrap around Prompto's torso and arms, effectively holding him somewhat still. And, with each movement he felt, he tightened his hold more.

It was becoming near impossible for him to breathe, let alone speak out any more. The only noise he could get out were sad excuses for protests. His body was quickly losing what strength it had and soon even his vision was swirling and fading in and out of focus. Despite this, he was still giving it his all to get away, as futile as that was at this point. Slowly his efforts were growing weaker and weaker with each passing second until the finally ceased altogether.

Everything seemed detached for some time after that. He was aware of himself being dropped and pushed aside, and when his vision focused enough there were feet walking passed his face, he tried to reach out for them, but he couldn't get anything to move properly. He wanted to call out to him, but could only get a small groan to come out. The sound of the bars sliding shut and being locked echoed in his head and he felt an unnatural sense of panic at that, knowing that he lost his chance to get to Ignis. Lost his chance to prevent whatever they had planned for him.

He was able to crawl over to the bars, though it was more along the lines of dragging himself. Wrapping one hand around one of the bars, he reached through with the other, only to realize that he was now alone. "Come back, please." He silently pleaded anyway, gripping the bar as hard as was possible for him.

Letting out a few coughs to clear his throat, he carefully sat himself up and leaned against the bars, eyes fixated on the corridor, looking down as far as possible. Nothing happened, no one came by, but that didn't stop him from watching and hoping. He perked up slightly when he heard two sets of footsteps heading towards him. Staying quiet, he stared through the bars until he could finally make out a couple of people. One of them was dressed in the same manner as himself, only difference was he wad a purple earring. A janitor he assumed. And the other was a man he had never seen before, but he guessed it was someone who was in charge of the janitors.

"Get back." The man ordered, directing the command at Prompto. He obeyed, though a bit spitefully, and moved purposefully slowly as he made his way over to the far corner. "And you," He faced the janitor, "Make it quick." He unlocked the door just wide enough for the smaller man to fit through. Making quick work, he grabbed the corpse by the ankles and began to drag it out the still open door. Prompto watched on as it left behind a trail of blood, making him feel both satisfied and disgusted at the same time.

Taking the body from the janitor, he tossed it aside and handed him a bucket of what looked like already soiled water with a rag hanging over the edge of it. Once the exchange was done, he closed and locked the bars back, leaving the two of them alone while he disposed of the body.

Quickly, the janitor got to work on scrubbing up the blood, rinsing and wringing the rag out frequently. He occasionally tossed a nervous glance Prompto's way, who noticed this, but never commented on it. Instead he gazed down at his hands, aware of an consistent itch that seemed to have developed. Peeling back the cloth a bit he could see a few small new blisters. Ones that shouldn't be there, they were on the sides of his hands, and a couple were even on the back. They didn't hurt though, they were just itchy. He began to pick at them slightly.

"You shouldn't scratch." The janitor advised, looking over out of the corner of his eyes. "Scratching will only make it worse."

Prompto picked at it a little bit longer, the need to stop the itching ever present, and then forced himself to stop. Letting his hands rest at his sides, palms up, he switched his attention back to the cleaning. Choosing to let that distract him.

The janitor look back towards him, face taking on a curious expression, "What's that?" He asked, nodding towards what he was looking at.

Following his gaze, Prompto's eyes landed on his wrist and he realized in horror that his bar code was in plain sight. In a panic, he tucked both arms away at his sides, "I-it's nothing." He answered quickly, betraying his own sense of urgency.

His obvious fear only served on piquing the man's curiosity and own unease, "That looks familiar, I'm sure I've seen something like that befo-"

"I said it's nothing!" Prompto snapped, pushing himself up to his feet. His vision blurred dangerously and he had to place a hand on the wall to keep upright. "Don't worry about it." He added quieter, his light-headedness preventing him from speaking with more vigor.

The man dropped his rag back in the bucket, getting to his own feet to back away, "Yo-you're one of them, aren't you?"

Prompto felt himself grow cold with the accusation, "N-no, No, I'm not." He shook his head as he spoke. "I'm not like them." He tried desperately to persuade. Making to step to the side he saw the man visibly flinch. There was genuine alarm in his reaction.

The janitor jolted to the bars, knocking over the bucket of water in the process, "Hey!" He yelled out into the corridor, "You gotta let me out of here!"

The horror of having those in charge find out about this, Prompto acted without thinking. He couldn't allow this man to give his secret away like that, not now. Charging forward, he tackled the man to the ground, hands already around his neck, "Shut up." He hissed between clenched teeth, "You can't tell them." He didn't realize how tight he was gripping until the man let out a few choked sounds, hands grabbing at Prompto's wrists as the tried to pull them away. This quickly brought him back to his senses, and he immediately released him, getting off of him and stepping back. The janitor rolled over to his side, taking in gulps of air.

"I'm sorry." The blond whispered, wrapping his arms around himself, "I didn't...I don't know why I did that. I'm not like that, I'm so sorry." His own hands trembled with hatred at himself for trying to kill an innocent man. He found himself unable to move as the returning footsteps of Legatus grew closer.

He didn't even bother stopping the man this time as he threw himself at the bars, "Please get me out if here." He pleaded, "He's not safe, he attacked me, you have to let me out." Prompto didn't try to defend himself, after what he did, he knew it was true. There was no need for what he did. He heard the door being unlocked and was aware of the man hurriedly getting out. He was even aware of Legatus stepping in, but he never moved. Not until he felt the hand on his shoulder.

That's all it took for him to act, quickly ducking under his arm and bolting out. Shoving past the janitor and knocking him against the wall, he sprinted as fast as his body would allow down the hall, never looking back. He heard them exchange words, and knew that his secret was no longer a secret, and used that to drive himself forward. If they knew what he was, there was no way they were going to show any mercy. Reaching the end of the corridor, he turned the corner quickly, barely paying attention to where he was going. He collided with something a little softer than rock, causing his run to come to a stop and knocking him back.

He sat there for a moment, afraid to look and see what he ran into, but knew there was no avoiding it, he would have to get back up anyway. Finally finding the courage hidden under his dread, he gazed upward, eyes scanning over a man. A rather large man at that, and the first thing he felt was fear and the need to get away.

* * *

 **It may not have been as dramatic or climatic as some would have liked, but I tried to keep it a bit realistic and in the spur of the moment type of deal.**


	8. Gun Shots

**Ok, so I tried to keep the layout as real to the game as I could, of course I had to break off from that at some point to make it fit the story better. Hopefully this isn't too boring to read though.**

* * *

Stepping inside, the atmosphere around them seemed to do a full one-eighty, going from warm and hopeful to chilled and desolate. A drift flowed past them, lifting up dust and dirt from the ground as it stirred around them. As far as they could see, this place was completely empty and void of life. It didn't even look like any sort of traffic had been through in decades, let alone the last few days. They both flipped on their lights and made a quick scan around, finding only what they would expect from a decrepit location such as this. Noctis stepped to the side as a few chunks of earth fell from the ceiling. "Doesn't look too promising." He mumbled, shining his own light down the tunnel.

"Yeah, but it's all we got." Gladio replied, stepping past the other to take the lead on this one. It was still his job to help protect the prince after all. He took a few steps in, stopping to take another quick look around. Wasn't much to be seen other than a rickety old elevator and a few other things that looked as though they had been left behind, long forgotten about over the years.

Noctis was left to him, gazing at the same structure, "Think it's safe?" He asked, eyeing it up and down. He walked up to it and ran a hand over the metal, cringing as a couple flakes of rust chipped away and floated down to his feet. "Uhh, think there might be a better way?"

The other seemed to have the same thoughts as he was already giving yet another look around, coming up empty handed at each turn. "We can either trust this thing, or we can try and find another route in." He rejoined the prince, "Only problem with the second choice is there's no telling when or if we'll find another way."

"Alright, let's give it a go then." Noctis replied. Gladio nodded and walked back up to the elevator, forcing his fingers between the metal gates as he began to pry them open, ignoring the creaks and whines of protest the effort produced. Once they were full opened, Noctis took a step to enter, but Gladio held out an arm, preventing him from doing so. "Let me go in first. Then give it a few seconds before following."

"What? No, we don't have time for that." He placed both hands on his arm and tried to move it out of his way, only to get frustrated when it wouldn't budge, "Come on."

The larger man stubbornly held his ground, "I think we can spare a few seconds, so just wait will ya?" Turning back, he slowly and cautiously placed one foot over the threshold, gradually shifting weight over to it, pausing each time there was a creak. Eventually he was standing on both feet which were now fully in. Giving it a few quick bounces, testing to see if it was sturdy enough, he waved Noctis to enter as well. Just like Gladio has done, he also took his time, making sure his movements didn't disturb the questionable machinery too much.

"Let's hope this holds up." Noctis commented under his breath as he pressed his thumb against the switch. Surprisingly the thing whirred and groaned to life and slowly they began their descent downwards. "Can't say I expected this thing to actually work."

Gladio hummed in agreement, "Can't say I didn't expect the same." They rode on in silence, watching each level pass by. Both had to steady themselves as the elevator jerked to a stop once it reached the bottom. A few more pieces of rust rained down on them with the sudden stop. And like before, Gladio pried the gate open the rest of the way when it got stuck at about half-way. "That should do." He said with a grunt and stepped out.

Noctis almost tripped on the way out. Looking down, his eyes trailed along a couple of rails and met a small light towards the end of the tunnel. "Looks like there's only one way to go." He sighed, wasting no time in walking briskly in that direction.

"Hold up." Gladio called after him. "We don't know who or what's down here, might want to take it a bit slower than that."

He threw him an annoyed glance, but gave in to the suggestion, taking his pace down a few notches. He took a few more steps, instinctively jumping back at the sound of snarls and the small pitter-patter of feet just a few yards ahead. Seeing nothing he assumed the sound to be coming around the bend just up ahead. They both crouched and scooted closer to the right wall, creeping along until the were a few inches from the bend.

Gladio held up a hand as he peaked around, scanning the area. Turning back to Noctis he whispered, "Goblins, about three of them. Shouldn't be too much trouble." He gave a small smile, "After you."

"Oh, so now I'm allowed to go first?" It was more of a remark out of spite, so he didn't wait for a reply before warping out to the opposite wall to get a better vantage point of the targets. They noticed him instantly, not that he was trying to be stealthy in the slightest anyway. All three turned to face the unexpected guest, hesitating for a few suspended moments out of surprise before the began running over in their awkward way. Noctis warped to the one taking the front while Gladio charged the second and third, managing to strike and knock both of them back with one blow.

Noctis' own strike hit its mark as the blade pieced the creatures shoulder, causing it the shriek out in agony and grab at the blade, trying to remove it. "No you don't" Noctis said as the thing resorted to trying to back away and off the blade. The prince angled his sword upward, ripping it through its shoulder and it released another cry, staggering backwards and sputtering blood across the rocks they stood upon. It didn't take long for it to slump over, the blood loss becoming too much for it to handle. Dismissing his blade, he looked over in time to see Gladio slice clean through the neck of the last living one.

"Just a bunch of small fry." He nonchalantly stated as he flung his own weapon out of existence. "Doing nothing but getting in the way." He met Noctis' gaze and looked over to his own target, "Alright, time to get going."

They followed the along the trails, both taking a side as they walked, only making it a few more feet as they came upon their first dilemma. "Which way do you suppose we should go?" Noctis asked, glancing from one tunnel to the other. One pitch black, looking to be completely separate from the mines themselves, while the other way still had some light and rails continuing forth.

Gladio looked between the two passages. "It would make more sense to go the obvious way of the two." He said flatly, crossing his arms, "Unless you plan on wasting time exploring something that could possibly be a dead end?"

He only gave the larger man an irritated look before heading down that way, choosing not to say anything about the snarky remark. With his vision cast forward there was a slight flinch as his foot landed in something cold and wet. Looking down he sighed, now seeing that a part of this path was flooded. "Great." He mumbled, wading through the near knee deep pool. There was no complaining from the other as he trailed right behind.

Relief rushed through them both as they stepped out of the mini-pond, now facing a run-down looking rusted gate not far away. Briskly walking towards it, Noctis could barely make out something moving on the other side of it, "What the..?" He squinted to try to get a better look and moved a bit quicker. Before he could reach it however, the gate was slammed shut, locking as it clicked. "You son of a bitch!" He yelled as he ran the rest of the way, just in time to see another one of those vile creatures making a run for it. He pounded his fist against the bars a few times out of frustration, letting his grievance out in a way.

Gladio grabbed him by the shoulder and quickly spun him around to face him, "I'm sure there's another way around, no use breaking your hand." He patted once and released him, turning around himself to start heading back. Noctis took another look back at the gate, hatred for the little bastards flowing stronger than ever, and reluctantly went after the larger man, knowing there was nothing to be done from there.

They walked back down the path a bit slower, examining every inch of the walls, floor and ceiling, searching for any signs of another possible way. And just like their luck, there was nothing, nothing but up anyway. Standing back in front of the elevator, they were beginning to doubt the possibility of the others being here. The entire time they had heard or seen nothing that would indicate it. But, this is where they were told to go, and like that man had said, they did in fact find some old mines. At least there was some truth to what they were told.

"Willing to give this another try?" Gladio asked, not waiting for a reply and was already prying the gates back open.

Noctis nodded, then realized the other couldn't see the gesture, "May as well I suppose." The fading hope could be heard in his voice, not that he could be blamed for that. Things weren't exactly looking too promising. He stepped past Gladio and into the elevator as soon as the opening was wide enough, standing next to the buttons as the other joined in, and with a quick press, the machine agonizingly whirred back to life, rising upwards at a much slower pace than it had before.

Once it was up a couple of levels, it slowed to a halt, jerking once again and almost knocking them both off balance. They stepped out into a much darker tunnel than before, not a single spec of light could be seen. Noctis wasn't sure of that was a good sign or a bad sign, but what choice was there. "I swear, if we find nothing, I'm bringing this whole place down and hunting each person involved in this little 'market' and make them all pay."

Gladio's eyes scanned over the prince, then over the rock walls of their surroundings, "Now that, I would pay to see." He tried to lighten the mood a bit with a light joke, but it was clear the other wanted nothing to do with it when he didn't respond. So instead, the going was silent for a while. They both visibly slowed however as a new sound filled the air. Looking ahead there was a little bit of light filtering through, fluttering as metal blades spun. It was light shining in from outside through a fan, and from the low brightness it was obvious that it was starting to get late already. It was so easy to lose track of time with the lack of natural light.

Moving onward, to their displeasure, they came across another split, one was angled downward though, and in a silent agreement, they both decided upon that path. Assuming down is where they wanted to go if they were to have any chances of finding anything. Carefully descending the slopes they were walking through another tunnel, support beams on either side of them. "We can only hope." Noctis spoke, breaking the silence as he sped up down the long corridor, small puddles splashing as his feet disturbed them.

Eventually their path narrowed as the beams were no longer around them. Gladio was getting slightly worried that it might narrow a bit too much, but let out a relieved sigh as this tunnel fed into a much wider one. Not paying attention, he nearly tripped, not expecting to stumble upon more tracks. That was a nice thing to come across at least. Looking both to the right and left, the left looked to be the most hopeful as it sloped even further downward.

"What the hell is that?" Noctis asked, stopping dead in his tracks, eyes fixated on a tall figure standing in the middle of the tracks. "Hello?" He asked cautiously, taking a tentative step forward. The shadows made it impossible to make out who or what it was, but it was clearly humanoid in shape." Unexpectedly, whatever it was flew forward towards him, and he was able to make out a faint glint as a bit of evening light glared off a blade.

"Move!" Gladio warned, quick to pull the other down, turning in the process, taking the hit himself. There was a stinging pain across his upper arm, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. "Be careful." He swiftly added, pulling Noctis back up to his feet as he got up himself. They both made their way over to the center of the tracks, away from whatever it was that attacked them.

"Dammit, this is just annoying." Noctis ground out, turning his attention back towards their new enemy. "We don't have time for this." He looked from the ronin to the ground beneath them and he took in the height of the drop. Sure, he could easily warp down, but Gladio would still have to get down. "How good are you with long falls?" He asked, debating whether it was a good idea or not.

Gladio immediately knew what he had in mind, "I can take it. It's all in the landing." He said with confidence. Noctis nodded for him to go first. With only a second of hesitation, the large man made the leap, rolling into it the moment his feet touched the bottom and he made it down with ease. He only received a few scrapes from the rough surface. Noctis was about to join him, but had to set that aside in order to dodge another attack aimed at his neck. He ducked under the blade, barely avoiding the strike. With the large man recovering from the miss, Noctis took the opportunity to get away, warping down and landing next to Gladio.

Without checking to see if they were being followed, the made for the first opening they saw, sprinting down the first tunnel their eyes landed on. Once they deemed it far enough away, they risked stopping to catch their breath. Noctis leaned forward with his hands on his knees, "Wha-what the hell was that?" He asked breathlessly between gulps of air.

"I don't know, but I don't think it appreciated us being here." Gladio answered, his own hand against one of the walls as he leaned against it. He had his eyes towards the ground, ripping them away to glance behind them just to be safe, "I think we're good." He announced, letting his guard drop by a degree.

Noctis let his gaze wander around, landing on the steady stream of red running down the larger man's arm, "You're bleeding." He said, obviously. He followed it up to see the decently sized gash on his upper arm.

"Don't worry about it." Gladio brushed it off, "It's not that bad." Despite his words, he placed his hand over it, adding pressure as the stinging resurfaced now that he was aware of it again. "Let's just keep going." He pushed himself away from the wall and continued down the path, Noctis was fast to follow, wanting to get this over with as soon as was possible.

Time was lost to them, as it felt like they were walking for hours, when it could have easily been minutes. Whatever it was, it was lost on them. The fact that they had been going for some time though only helped to exasperate the both of them exponentially more as they finally reached a change in the path. A change that they weren't to keen of. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" Noctis didn't try to hold back his frustration and anger anymore and slammed an open hand against the rocky dead end.

Gladio didn't say anything about his outburst this time, feeling the same way himself about this outcome. He let his head drop as his heart did the same. Standing in silence, the only sound being a few drops of moisture dropping from above them, a sudden noise caught both their attentions. It sounded like a gun shot, and it sounded relatively close. "Did you hear that?"

"Kinda hard not to." Noctis answered, his mood taking a completely different turn now. It sounded as though it were coming from below them. With that knowledge, they began searching the floor, backtracking until the stumbled upon anything. That something would have easily been overlooked as well had Gladio not stepped on it. The ground shifted beneath his left foot, creating more of a metallic sound rather than the gritty nose of stone. He crouched down and started to feel around with his hands, skimming over an edge.

"Trap door." He said, fingers tracing around the seams. Summoning his sword, he wedged the blade underneath, and Noctis joined him in prying. As soon as there was a small opening Gladio held it where it was and the other stepped forward to start pulling it up with his hands. Soon enough they were able to slide the cover away, revealing a ladder that lead down to who knows where. "If this doesn't take us where we want to go, then I don't know what will." Gladio stated, filled with new hope at the discovery.

Without protesting this time, Noctis allowed Gladio to go down first, wanting to avoid anymore delays due to unnecessary quarrels. He made his way down, jumping off once he was down far enough and immediately took in his new surroundings. It looked like storage. Shelves and containers lined the walls, all holding various clothing and items. His eyes wandered around as Noctis climbed down, and they landed on the one thing that instantly stuck out to him. He was staring straight at Prompto's camera, just sitting there on a shelf next to various phones and other devices. "Noct." He said quietly.

"Hmm?" He replied, turning his head to face Gladio, but he didn't need to answer once he saw what he was looking at. Without a word he walked over to it and picked it up to examine it just to make sure. Turning it on, he flipped through the saved photos, sifting through images of the four of them. He quickly switched it off with a heavy breath and placed it in his pocket. "Come on." He said, not wanting to be in this room any longer than he had to.

"Yeah." Gladio agreed, looking around for an exit, finding it with ease. He stopped mid step and pressed himself against the wall, pulling Noctis with him and placed a finger over his lips, gesturing for him to remain silent. The other nodded, just now hearing footsteps walking by. They could hear words, but couldn't make out what was being said between them. Both pressed themselves as close to the wall as was possible when two shadows spilled in when the two walked by.

Giving it a few seconds, Gladio peeked around the corner,seeing that it was now clear for them to move. "That was close." He whispered out, taking the first step out. He waved for Noctis to follow. The area they were in looked to be pretty open, and on the other side there were two tunnels, one on the right, and one on the left. The latter having the most light spilling out. Gazing towards it, they felt dread as they saw another shadow coming down it. Just one this time. They probably could have easily dealt with whoever it was with the two of them, but they didn't want to chance them calling out. Instead the ducked behind the first thing they saw, that being a mine cart to their right.

Like before, they gave it a moment before checking the coast. Before they could leave their cover, they heard yelling coming from the the same tunnel. It sounded fearful, but neither of them recognized it. As it called out for help, the previous sound of footsteps returned, moving a bit quicker this time towards the sound, and following that was more yelling. They couldn't wait there any longer, couldn't stand by knowing someone was obviously terrified to such a degree.

"We have to do something." Noctis was the first to speak about it. He looked to Gladio for a response, glad to see he was up for it They moved at the same time, quickly, yet carefully heading towards the tunnel. Stopping a few feet away, they hesitated, both intently listening as there was a new set of footsteps now, lighter ones that were quickly getting closer.

Gladio didn't have time to react as something ran into him full force. He heard a small gasp as they fell to the ground with the collision. A little shocked from the encounter, it took him a moment to gaze down at them. As soon as he did, he instantly recognized that blond hair. Albeit a bit grimy and unkempt, but it was definitely his. "Prom?" He asked, shock clear in his voice. But what was more shocking than his appearance was his reaction. He gazed up at him, terror filling his eyes upon landing on Gladio, and he actually backed away from him. "Hey, are you alright?" Gladio asked crouching down, even though it was obvious he wasn't.

Prompto said nothing at first, his breaths coming out in short gasps as he held his right hand close to his chest. Without thinking, Gladio reached out, placing his hand on the blond's upper arm. "Don't touch me." He spat, slapping his hand away as he forced himself to his feet and gravitated towards Noctis instead, but still kept his distance. He had his arms tightly wrapped around himself, eyeing both of them warily "I have to get away." He said more to himself. "I have to find Iggy, they took him, Noct." His voice strained as he struggled to hold back his emotions.

"Where did they take him?" Noctis asked. Prompto didn't get the chance to answer as another man came bounding around the corner, followed by a much smaller one.

Legatus' eyes landed on the blond first, but quickly darted to the two standing in front of them. He jumped back in surprise, the appearance of the two catching him off guard, "Who the hell are you two, and how did you get down here?" He asked, hand going to the dagger at his side.

"Why does it matter?" Noctis said between clenched teeth as he summoned his sword, having zero hesitation as he swung it forward. The man quickly tried to avoid it, but it still caught his side, and Noctis could tell that it cut pretty deeply. He cried out, both hands flying to the fresh wound as blood flowed out from between his fingers. Dropping to his knees, he was forced to lean his head back, or risk his neck being stabbed through. "You have one chance to tell me where he is." He placed the tip of the blade directly under his chin.

Legatus licked his dry lips, and gave them a sly smile, "I don't know who you're talking abo-" His words swiftly transformed into gargles as blood seeped out of the corner of his both and down the length of the blade. Noctis yanked it out, causing blood to spew out with it. With the man now lying at his feet, quickly bleeding out, the janitor was left standing there in stunned silence. Prompto instinctively took a step away.

"You." Noctis turned his attention to the other, "What do you know?"

He responded first by putting up his hands in surrender, "I swear I don't know anything, I just clean up bodies and blood." He looked into Noctis' hatred fill gaze, "I swear."

Noctis was about to respond, but was cut off as he opened his mouth. They all seemed to freeze in place, and Prompto visibly jumped as another shot filled the air, echoing around the open room as it escaped out of the other tunnel.


	9. Back Together

**As impossible as it seems, I think Dominus may be worse than Impius**

* * *

Prompto felt a chill run through him at that sound. Panic quickly chased that feeling away and he felt the strong need to get to Ignis right that second. The thought of wasting even a second was out of the question. He tore his eyes away from the bloody scene laid out in front of him and towards the other corridor, already turning towards it. With the first step he could already tell he wouldn't be able to make it too much further after spending all that energy with his previous sprinting.

Seeing the blond heading towards the obvious danger, Noctis stopped him mid step, feeling him tense up under his touch, "Hold up." He said quietly, moving in front of him, "It's probably not a good idea for you to head in first." The prince did a quick scan over him, and he honestly looked like he was on the verge of death if his appearance was anything to go by. Prompto looked absolutely exhausted, dark circles encasing his once vibrant gaze.

He shrugged out from under Noctis' hand, the feel of it there doing nothing but making him uneasy, "He's down there, I know he is." He replied, placing a hand against the wall to support himself as he went a few more steps, each one seeming to get more difficult than the last. Fear began to creep up alongside the darkness that was slowly edging along his vision.

"Prom, you need to settle down, we can take it from here." Noctis stated, trying to get him to calm down before he passed out.

Gladio was quick to back him up, "Yeah, we got this." Prompto was slightly aware of them getting closer causing his heart to speed up. Internally cursing himself for being so afraid when he shouldn't be, he leaned up against the wall and allowed it to take most of his weight. He nodded to let them know he was alright with this.

"Alright." Noctis answered, "I'm going ahead, Gladio do you mind staying here with hi-"

"No!" The blond cut off. His eyes were wide as he looked between the two, and he hated the look of confusion and worry on their faces. Realizing what he just said he tried to correct himself, "I-I mean...let me go as well. Please." Noctis thought about it for a moment, not wanting him to push himself when he didn't have to.

"Fine." He finally replied, "But the moment you so much as stumble, you're stopping."

"Ok." Prompto responded in a hushed tone. As the made their way through, he was unwittingly keeping closer to Noctis, but still far enough away that he couldn't reach out and touch him without him noticing. He still had his arms around himself, the right hand tucked under the left and completely hidden from view.

Noctis held out an arm, gesturing for the others to stop. He was next to another branch off which had more light spilling out. He leaned closer as he heard shuffling from inside. Peeking around, he couldn't see he was surprised by the sight. "Iggy?" He asked silently, slowly easing around the corner.

At the sound of that name, Prompto shoved passed the prince, nearly tripping in the process to get in hurriedly. He stopped himself half-way in to take in the scene he just charged into, and the first thing that stuck out to him was all the blood pooled on the floor, which had a prone form lying face down in the puddle. He swallowed hard and forced himself to approach the body. Through his panic and fear, reason and logic finally fought its way through and he noticed the clothing and the size of the person. It was far too large a man to be him. He sighed in relief at the realization. "It's not him." He said more to himself, calming himself down.

Noctis joined next to him as Gladio stayed back, keeping an eye down the corridor. Using his foot, he turned the man over, and Prompto instantly recognized him as Princeps. A small single hole stood out in the man's forehead. Looking away, he swiftly looked around, "Ignis?!" He called out, not waiting for the others. "Where are yo-"

Noctis was quick to silence him, placing a firm hand over his mouth, "Keep it down." Unexpectedly, the other jerked his head away, as if the touch burned him. He looked at Prompto for a second before looking at his own palm, "We want to find him as much as you do, alright?" He started calmly, "But we can't be making more noise than we already have."

"Really?" Prompto retorted sarcastically, "Yeah, because the gun shot was definitely not an alarm to everyone here."

The prince took a deep breath, "Look, if Ignis did this," He gestured to the body, "Then I'm sure he's fine enough, so don't worry." The blond seemed to lose himself in thought, "Prom." Noctis spoke, getting his attention back when he took too long to come back out of it. "It will be fine, I promise."

"He has to be around here somewhere." Prompto stated flatly, "He has to be." With a quick turn, he was back against the wall as things wavered in and out of focus, "H-He's somewhere..." He tilted forward, unable to hold himself up any longer, and Noctis barely had time to catch him by the shoulder.

"Gladio." He called the other over, pulling Prompto off the wall. As the larger made his way over, the prince tapped his cheek, "Prom." He said lightly, not getting a response. Letting his hand rest there he became aware of the slight heat coming off him.

"What happened?" Gladio asked, coming up behind him.

Noctis shook his head, looking up at the other, "He fainted, but he feels a bit warm to me."

The shield's forehead creased at that news, "I got it." He said, crouching down and lifting the blond into his arms. As his head fell against his shoulder, he felt what Noctis was talking about. "Let's get going." He turned back and faced the door at the back of the room, just now noticing that it was slightly ajar. "Noct." He gestured towards the open door with his head.

He made his way to walk in the front, easing his way closer to the door and slowly pushed it open as a creak echoed off it. Flashing his light through, he glanced around, a bit annoyed at seeing that it was another path, "How many of these damn things are there?" He ground out, pushing the door the rest of the way open.

"Too many." Gladio answered matter-of-factly. "This is the only other way he could have gone though, other than out the door and right."

"Yeah." Noctis stepped into the pathway, light glistening off the damp walls, "If this way turns out to be nothing, we'll go that way." He glanced back at the other two, "You should probably stay behind me for now."

"Won't argue with that this time." Gladio answered, eyes flicking down to Prompto who was still out cold. "Just be careful, take it slow."

"Got it." He moved along, keeping one hand on the wall at all times should he slip or anything of the sort. It wasn't a narrow passage by any means, yet he couldn't help but feel a little cramped in the area. They both jumped at yet another gun shot going off, sounding as though it struck something metallic. They picked up their speed now, the noise driving them forward, and eventually it opened up to another room, and upon first glance all he saw were carts and sacks filled with coal. The same sacks that were piled into the back of the truck. "Looks like we found the stash."

"I'd say so." Gladio agreed, full of astonishment at the sheer amount that surrounded them. A shuffle to their left pulled both of their attentions and they found themselves already drifting towards the sound. There was another room in that direction, and the noise was clearly coming from there. They exchanged a knowing look and Gladio bent to place Prompto down, making sure he was hidden from sight and joined back up with Noctis before nodding.

They crept up to the side of the door and listened, hearing something that sounded like rummaging. Noctis slid a little closer, cringing when his foot kicked something, causing it to skid across the floor. He glanced down at the broken lock now a few inches away. The rummaging instantly stopped and they could make out a shadow moving around now. They paused as a click cut through the silence. "Show yourself." The person called. Voice slightly hoarse.

"Wait a minute." Noctis said, recognizing the voice, "Iggy?" At the name, the shadow slowly approached and a familiar face popped out around the corner. Albeit a little worse for wear, but familiar nonetheless. He looked from one bruise to the others, "What the hell happened to you?" He asked, not hiding his curious expression.

"Long story." Ignis sighed tiredly. The prince glanced over him, glad to see that everything else seemed in tact, but his eyes landed on the gun in his hand. It was Prompto's gun.

"Why do you have that?" Noctis pointed to the weapon, "Or should I ask, how do you have that?"

The man looked down to the gun and back at Noctis before repeating, "Long story." He tucked the gun back into his waistband, "More importantly, we need to get Prompto and get out of here."

"Way ahead of you." Gladio waved a hand and went back to retrieve their sleeping beauty. As he came back with the blond in his arms, Ignis noticeably relaxed. He honestly felt utterly drained by now, but he could hold up until they were out of this. Or that's what he told himself anyway, that he would have to keep this up for all of their sake.

"Come with me." The adviser instructed, turning his back on them to go back into the room. They followed right behind him and got to see what he had been up to. In the middle of the room was a table with papers strewn all over it. But, one in particular stood out against the rest.

"Are those the blueprints to this place?" Noctis asked, sliding a hand over them, as if to test if they were real.

"Indeed they are." Ignis answered, in high spirits now that they had a real chance at getting out of this hell now. He had both hands on either side, leaning over the paper as his eyes roamed over the surface, checking every inch of the parchment. "That path you came down, it's the only way to this storage facility. If we go back there and back to the main corridor, we can take the right passage and it should take us in the right direction." Noctis and Gladio followed his finger as it trailed along the scaled down path.

"How did you know this would be in here?" Noctis asked, scanning around the room to see multiple cabinets and even a desk against the back wall.

Ignis had a moment of hesitation before answering, "Just a hunch." He stated, taking a deep breath, then continued, "Spent the last couple days packing coal, and this is the only door I've ever noticed. That and the fact that it was locked with only the leader of the pack having the key."

"Dominus." Gladio said under his breath.

Ignis nodded, "So, you've heard about him already." His eyes drifted over to Prompto, "Is he doing alright?"

"Mostly." Noctis spoke softly. "He was awake when he ran into us, but after a while he couldn't go on and passed out on us. I think he has a minor fever, but other than that he seems...kind of alright."

He perked up a bit, "Ran into you?" He asked curiously, eyes completely focused on them now. "How?"

"Just ran straight into me." Gladio shrugged, careful not to disturb Prompto. "Came bounding around the corner, nearly gave me a heart attack."

"So he managed to get out." Ignis wondered silently, gaze now moving to his wrapped up hands, "Right, there's still something else I want to look for while we're in here." He left them and the blueprints as he went back to searching through various cabinets and drawers until he came across what he was looking for. "I honestly didn't think I would locate anything." He pulled out a small white case and lifted the lid open, saying a silent prayer to himself that it wasn't empty. He breathed out, finding what he was looking for. "Gladio, lie him down for a moment."

He complied and gently placed him on the floor, Ignis already crouching down next to him. As tenderly as he could, he began peeling away one of the strips of fabric from his left hand, cursing as he removed it completely. He already knew they were infected, but with better lighting he now saw how bad they really looked. Grabbing the antiseptic from the case, he quickly poured a generous amount over the wounds.

Prompto's reaction was instant. He gasped out and tried desperately to yank his hand away, but Ignis held onto it firmly, "Calm down." He soothed quietly, "I know it hurts, but this is going to help, alright?" The words didn't seem to cut through to him all the way, but he did appear to settle down a small amount. Once he was still enough, Ignis reached for a roll of gauze, wrapping them loosely around and tying it off. "That will have to do for now." He stated, lying that hand at Prompto's hand as he grabbed the other. Catching a glimpse of the code, he hesitated. "Why don't you two look around a bit more for anything useful while I finish this off."

"Right." Noctis complied as they both stepped away. Satisfied that they couldn't see, Ignis worked quickly, even going as far as wrapping a small strip around the bar code. There was no reason for the others to know about it yet, not if he wasn't ready for it.

"I'm finished." Ignis announced, setting the case aside and getting back to his feet. He was still staring down at Prompto who was now lightly stirring. He couldn't tell if it was due to pain, or another nightmare, but either way it wasn't pleasant. "You should give him a moment before picking him back up." Ignis warned in case he did wake up. He remembered the way he had reacted earlier upon waking up and didn't want him to be any more startled than he already was.

While they waited, Gladio asked the question that's been bugging him since Prompto's first reaction to him, "What did they do to him?" He didn't hide his own anger, especially not after seeing what shape his hands were in.

Ignis didn't answer right away, he didn't want to think about it himself, but he had to tell them something. They at least deserved that. "It's better if he tells you himself, it's not my place to say." His word was final, and they could tell he wasn't going to budge on the subject. But, they could see in his face how much it pissed him off, and that was enough for them. He changed the subject, "But there's no need to worry about it anymore. The man who...hurt him, is dead now." He glanced down at the blond as he gradually stilled again, "He did save my life and all."

Gladio stared down at the gunslinger, and to him he looked so much smaller than usual, "He did huh?" He smiled to himself at the thought. He quickly remembered where they were though, and their situation, "We should probably get going soon. We've been here long enough." He crouched and slipped his arms back under Prompto, who groaned quietly as he was lifted, but didn't wake up.

Noctis took the lead, seeing as he was the only one not carrying anyone and in actual decent condition. He eased his head out the door, seeing and hearing no one, but you could never be too careful. The main part he was worried about was going back down that path, not exactly anywhere they could duck if they had to.

Reaching it, he was sure to take it extra slowly, avoiding making any excess noise so he could more easily hear if anyone was coming. They only made it about half-way through and Noctis could see a light shining further down. "Shit." He mumbled and turned to face the others, "Wait here, I'll take care of this guy."

"Noct, I don't thi-" Gladio started, but the other wasn't listening as he was already warping towards the newcomer. "Dammit, I swear he never thinks things through."

"I wonder who else I know that's like that." Ignis threw out light-heartedly.

Gladio huffed out at that accusation, "I was never that bad though." He quickly defended.

Noctis was approaching whoever this person was rather quickly, not even trying to hide his presence, he just wanted to get this over with quickly. As soon as he was close enough he flashed behind the man, swiftly holding his blade around and against his neck, "Who are you?" He asked with bitterness.

"I should be asking you tha-"

"I'm not here to play games, now answer me." His fingers tightened around the hilt and there was a satisfying hiss as the blade was pressed against flesh. "I said, who are you?" He asked again, letting it known that he was very patient at the moment.

"Are you the reason so many of my men are dead? Surely those two couldn't have done all of that." He actually laughed to himself. "Hell, the scrawny one could barely pass as a worker."

"Dominus?" Noctis asked, instinctively pressing the blade harder against him.

"Bingo." He said a bit too cheerfully for a man seconds away from death. "Man, those idiots really should have gotten you and the big one instead. You two would have been way more interesting. Though, can't complain too much, the blond one did provide some entertainment for one of my men at least."

Those words didn't sit well with him. "You son of a bitch." He went to slice through his throat, but somehow he managed to pull his wrist away just far enough to slip out and step to the side. He looked strong, but that amount of strength was still unexpected.

"Did I hit a nerve?" He charged forward and swung towards Noctis' face, but his reflexes kicked in and he was able to warp a few feet away. "I saw the whole thing." He had a sick grin on his face as he spoke about it, "Impius always did have a twisted fascination for that type. I personally don't understand it, but I don't mind observing the weaker squirm, so I allow it."

"Shut the hell up!" Noctis could feel his own blood heat up at the near bragging the man was spewing. He threw his sword towards him, letting his body take over in his fury. His blade connected with rock as he phased inches passed him.

"You should have heard the begging." Dominus continued as if nothing happened, "The saddest part is, he wasn't begging for himself. He was only worried about his little companion. 'Please, don't hurt him.' over and over again." He let out another small chuckle, "It was honestly quite admirable in a way."

"Shut up already!" He tried to block out the sound, "That's enough! I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you have the audacity to gloat about people suffering?!" He gripped his sword until his knuckles went white, and as hard as he could, he thrust his blade in Dominus' direction once again.

* * *

 **I think a lot of people missed that Ignis picked up the gun in chapter 7 (I think it was) Well after Impius was killed, he picked it up. C:**


	10. Realizations

It wasn't long after Noctis left in a flash of blue that Gladio heard the raised voices coming from their direction. Things sounded as though they were getting a bit out of hand rather quickly. He grit his teeth, having a feeling that he needed to be there with Noctis. "Go." He turned to face Ignis as he spoke. "Leave him here with me," He nodded his head at Prompto, "And go."

Gladio nodded in appreciation and gently placed the blond against the stone wall, "Stay here until we come back." He instructed, even though he knew Ignis already knew not to go anyway. It was more out of habit. He looked them both over, just to make sure they were both situated, and once he was satisfied he took off down the corridor, summoning his blade as he did so.

Ignis sat down next to Prompto, leaning heavily against the wall. Now that he was actually still he was aware of how exhausted and sore he felt. Everything seemed to ache with dull throbs. He took a deep breath and leaned his head back, taking this short moment to collect himself. "Not too much longer." He said quietly, casting his eyes down the corridor as Gladio got further away. Even in his somewhat relaxed state, he never allowed his guard to falter, not by a single notch. He heard Prompto shift next to him, and turned to see he had only slid down the wall, now leaning against him. He shifted over some himself so that the other could lean more comfortably against him, despite the fact that he wasn't aware of it.

Prompto's breaths were coming out a little quick, but they were even at least. Ignis lightly touched his face with the back of his hand, feeling the subtle heat that was present. Sighing, he pulled his hand away to check his pulse, satisfied that it still felt strong enough. As he retracted his hand a small whimper escaped the blond's lips. His eyes drifted to his face which was now in an expression of discomfort. "Prom?" He asked, trying to get him to come to all the way.

He responded but groaning and trying to turn away. Ignis was getting ready to say something else, but Prompto beat him to it when a quiet, "Sorry." was whispered out. Ignis didn't know how to respond to that, but he just continued to watch his features, watched as he noticed a tear form in the corner of his eye as it spilled over. "So sorry." His brow creased a little more and Ignis couldn't take it anymore.

"Prom, wake up." He said firmly, giving the younger a gentle shake, "It's only a dream, everything is alright." Lightly patting the side of his face, he repeated his words until he finally gasped out, opening his eyes wide in alarm. He was now taking deep breaths, coughing slightly as the harshness of it irritated his throat. Confusion graced his face at realizing he had no idea where he was, and along with that the panic began to set in. His focus darted around, unable to zone in on anything in the near darkness. In this frantic state, it didn't take long for him to try and get up, but Ignis was right next to him, making sure he stayed where he was. "Prompto, it's alright, settle down."

The sound of his voice calmed him almost immediately and his head snapped in Ignis' direction. He didn't try to hide his relief as he tried to control his breathing now, but having a hard time doing so. "Deep breath." Ignis suggested, "Nice and slow." Prompto nodded and and followed his directions. He did this a few times until his heart felt like it was finally pumping at a normal speed. "Better?" He asked after a moment.

Prompto nodded, still not trusting himself to finally speak just yet. He tentatively reached out a hand and ran his thumb over the bruise next to Ignis' right eye, "I'm so sorry." He said almost inaudibly. "This is my fault."

Ignis pulled his hand away, "Stop blaming yourself." He placed Prompto's hand back at his side, "Listen, I'm the one that took the fall for it, that was my choice; therefore, my fault. Do you understand?" He held eye contact, not allowing the other to look away, "Do you understand?" He repeated, a little sharper.

"Yeah." He finally responded, "I understand." He took another deep and steadying breath, letting his eyes fall half-way closed. Then he remembered, "Weren't the others here?" He felt puzzlement take over, "I thought, I'm pretty sure they were."

Ignis held his hands up, signalling for him to quiet down, "They're here, don't worry. They are just a little preoccupied for the time being." He looked down the corridor in their direction, "It shouldn't take them too long." Prompto suppressed a shudder and forced himself to relax back against the wall.

* * *

Gladio made his way down the path quickly, but still slow enough so as not to slip on the slick surface of the stones. "Noct?" He called down, the only response he got was his own echo bouncing back at him. But, after a few more steps he heard more of the yelling along with seeing another flash of blue. This urged him to pick up his pace a bit. As he grew closer he could finally make out words. '-ou should have heard the begging.' Were the first words he picked up on. He stopped where he was, now listening more closely. He clung to each word that was spoken after that, the mocked ones more so than the rest.

"Shut up already!" He heard the prince shout out, his anger clear in his words. "That's enough! I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you have the audacity to gloat about people suffering?!" Gladio ran forward as the prince spoke, as soon as he was close enough he could see Noctis toss his sword towards the large man and could see the latter already moving to get out of the way.

He charged forward, sprinting the rest of the distance before the sword reached him, and was able to reach the man in time to hook his arms under his. All he had to do was hold onto him long enough for the the blade to hit. He grit his own teeth, anticipating the blow, knowing that by doing this he was risking getting hit himself by being in the line of fire. But if what he heard had anything to do with what he thought it did, then it would be worth it to make this bastard suffer.

Noctis didn't realize Gladio was even there until he felt his sword connect with his target and he was on top of both of them. He met the larger man's eyes, afraid to look down and see exactly the damage he had caused. But, he knew he would have to look eventually and slowly he allowed his eyes to drift downward at the blood that was flowing down the length of his blade and running over his hands. He followed the edge to Dominus where it pierced through his abdomen, through to the other side. In his own alarm and without thinking, he pulled his sword out and dismissed it immediately.

Dominus stayed upright, primarily due to Gladio still holding him still, but he still seemed able to hold himself up. "Gladio, what the hell are you doing?" He asked, words coming out quickly, "I could have killed you!"

"It takes a little more than that." He attempted at humor, but Noctis could hear the pain in his voice, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. He released his hold on Dominus, who in turn had to switch to the wall for proper support.

"Can't fight your own battles alone?" He asked bitterly, one hand grasping his wound as blood seeped out from between his fingers.

Gladio pressed Dominus up against the wall, on strong arm under his chin, "You made this all of our battle when you took them!" He unintentionally dug his arm in deeper.

Dominus smiled to himself, "Do they really mean that much to you?" He asked condescendingly, "Because you sure took your sweet time getting to them." He looked from Gladio's face to Noctis', relishing in the guilt as it sank in. "So much could have been avoided, you know? Maybe, just maybe, you could have spared him from Impius' desir-" Gladio jumped back out of shock as a blade now stuck from his chest, he trailed his eyes up it, landing on Noctis.

"I told you once to shut the hell up." Noctis growled out, ripping his sword back out and dismissed it as the man slumped against the wall and slid down, leaving behind a red stain behind him. He sighed out of satisfaction, turning his head to look at the stab wound on Gladio's side, "You alright?" He asked. Luckily it didn't look too deep, but it still appeared pretty painful.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Gladio answered, gazing down at Dominus' prone form, "What were you two talking about? Before I showed up." He asked, looking back at Noctis as the words replayed in his head.

The prince looked away, "It was nothing, he was just rambling." He answered quickly, brushing it off. "Come on, we should get the others and get out of here." Changing the subject he began walking back down the tunnel, heading back to their companions.

"Right." Gladio let it go, not wanting to press it. He already had an idea of what the others had to endure, but he wasn't one-hundred percent sure about the details on it. Then again, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.

It didn't take them too long to get back to them, both were equally surprised to come upon a conscious Prompto, eyes dead set on them as they approached. With the new information Noctis had, he was now picking up on the small and subtle movements the blond made. Like how he slightly lowered his head as they got closer, avoiding meeting their gaze. Every insignificant flinch now seemed like so much more than that. "You two ready to go?" Noctis asked, more so directing the question towards Ignis.

The latter pushed himself up to his feet, "I believe that we are." he looked down to Prompto, "Think you can walk?" He nodded after a couple seconds of thought, and accepted Ignis' offered hand in helping him up.

"Thanks." he replied, still holding onto the man while he got his bearings. "I think I'm good." He slowly took his hand away and took a few steps, just to make sure he didn't instantly fall over. Regardless of what he said, Ignis remained close by his side. The blond did have a history of making things seem less dire than they actually were after all.

"Take your time." Gladio said gently, "Carrying you again may be a bit more difficult given the circumstances." He moved his hand from his side to see it was still bleeding, not terribly, but enough. Behind him, Prompto tensed slightly, not realizing until then that someone had to have carried him since he was out, and the thought of that honestly made him feel a bit uncomfortable.

As the passed by Dominus' body they cautiously stepped around it, as far against the opposite wall as they could. Despite him being dead, they still didn't feel safe being overly close to him. Ignis and Prompto both cringed a bit as their bare feet squished into the fresh blood that had spread along the floor. They tried averting their eyes as the went by, both seeing enough blood over the past few days. Eventually they reached the end of the tunnel and immediately veered to the right, heading towards the exit Ignis had informed them about.

"Wait." Prompto spoke out, having a bit more volume than he had recently.

"Everything alright?" Noctis asked, his worry showing through brightly. "Need us to stop for a moment?"

He quickly shook his head, "No, we can't just leave." He said shyly, looking down at his feet as if the request was asking too much. "There are still people here, we can't just leave them here."

"Once we get out of here, we'll get people to come out and help them, alright, but for now we need to g-"

"No." Prompto interrupted, keeping his voice low now. "You don't understand." His words broke off towards the end, "We can't leave them here. Not with these people."

Noctis gave in, understanding exactly what he meant. "Alright." He said, "But I'll do it myself, no need for you three to come along." He saw Gladio about to protest, but quickly cut him off before he could, "Their leader is already dead, if there are more of them then they won't be as problematic as him. I can handle any others alone."

"Are you sure?" He asked anyway, even though he knew his mind was made up and he wasn't changing it.

"Yeah." Noctis answered, summoning his blade back as he turned his back to them, "Gladio, make sure you all get out of here in one piece. I'll join back with you guys soon."

"Same goes to you." Gladio waved a hand as they headed in opposite directions.

"Is this really a good idea?" Prompto asked when Noctis was far enough away not to hear. "Someone should have gone with him. These people aren't...they aren't..." He trailed off and Ignis was already placing his arm around him to support him. He coughed a few times, each one racking through his body.

"Prom." Ignis said gently, "Noctis will be alright, he's more than capable of handling this." He took one of Prompto's arms and placed it over his own shoulders without his consent, "We should go, we'll wait for him once we're outside."

He didn't reply, but he leaned into the other man who could see the minor gloss over his eyes. Even the heat coming off felt a little higher than it had. "You with me?" Ignis asked, gently jarring him trying to get his attention. Slowly he the younger met his gaze and nodded once.

"S-sorry, I don't know...I don't know what that was about." He tried to take his weight back, but the other didn't allow it, keeping his arm firmly around him. "I got this." He said stubbornly when Ignis didn't let him go.

"No, that you do not." His voice held some power behind it, "You have to be willing to accept help when you need it, and I believe this would be one of those moments." He looked towards Gladio now, "Let's keep going."

Without a word, Gladio faced back in the right direction and continued forth, the others following closely behind. Prompto not once fighting against it anymore, honestly feeling too worn out to do so.

* * *

Within a few more minutes they reached another tunnel, this one having tracks along it, "I suppose this is where they transport their goods." Ignis said, scanning over the strips of metal. "We should keep quiet should anyone be nearby."

"I can get behind that." Gladio agreed, "Think I had enough of dealing with these people for one day." He kept close to one of the walls, barely skimming passed it as they moved. So far the going was relatively easy, no signs of life being seen or heard. Eventually the path had begun to slope upwards, getting steeper with each foot they covered. Once it slowly evened out once again, the sight of natural daylight in the distance seemed almost like a godsend. "Not much further." Gladio said over his shoulder, never slowing down.

Ignis cursed himself internally. If only they had known sooner that there was a way out this close to them, not even closed off. But, that knowledge having not been known to them, why would they have even thought about heading this way. Then again, there was no point in having too high a security when you could keep your workers under control with fear and violence. Threatening them for so much as looking at them the wrong way. He felt Prompto sag against him a little more, "Not much further." He tried to reassure. Leaving out the fact that they had no idea exactly where they were exiting from.

"K" He responded almost inaudibly. He cleared his throat once again, attempting to rid his throat of an itch, but not wanting to cough again. Though, all he accomplished was making it itch more, so instead he just tried to ignore it. He found himself to be breathing a lot harder than he should be. This little bit of exertion shouldn't have been draining him as much as it was.

Gladio was aware of this and stopped in his tracks before he knelt down. "Get up." He almost commanded. He couldn't see, but the look on Prompto's face was almost that of horror.

"I'm good." He croaked out.

"It's fine." Ignis encouraged, "I'm right here, remember? Nothing is going to happen, you know you can trust us." He let out a small whine and carefully took a small step forward. He really didn't want to do this, it didn't feel right, but eventually he had his arms around the larger man's shoulders, tensing up drastically when he slipped his arms under his knees and lifted him with ease. Gladio felt his quick and shallow breaths against his neck. Ignis made sure to stay a little ahead of them, just enough to stay within view, seeing as it brought some comfort.

He didn't want to tell the others, but being able to walk without having to support anyone was a huge physical relief. He may have hidden it well, but he was starting to struggle with it quite a bit. Bearing the weight of two instead of just himself was almost too much. Ignis could feel his own energy depleting now, but he had to keep it up for just a little longer. Once they were out he could take it easy, but not now.


	11. Freedom

**I did add some of what Noctis was up to, but not everything, since I felt explaining the last bit would be a bit boring, but I feel like there is enough there to keep some people satisfied. C:**

* * *

The rays felt almost scorching against their skin, having been deprived of any sort of warmth for so long. Ignis shielded his eyes from the assaulting light as Prompto turned his head away from it. "We should get a good distance away before we settle and wait for Noct." Ignis suggested, not liking the idea of waiting too close to this place just to be safe. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing no sign of the other coming out, though he didn't exactly expect him to be out that quickly. "Perhaps find a decent shelter nearby that he can easily find while also keeping us hidden should anyone stroll by."

"If that's the case, we could easily just find a crevice in the side of this place." Gladio replied, gazing around the rock formations circling the mines. There seemed to be plenty of places they could squeeze into anyway, as far as he could say.

Ignis seemed to think about it momentarily, "I suppose that could work for now. We would be able to easily see Noct when he comes out. Plus, if there are more of these people, it won't be too likely that they would check areas so close to their operation." He stopped where he was to turn and take a quick look around. Though, the idea of remaining so close wasn't his first choice, he knew that they could use a few moments to take a break. With as little water and rest they had been getting while here, the repercussions of that were really beginning to show. The weakness in his limbs was now making itself clear and known by now.

Spotting something that was close enough, they made their way over, Ignis going in first, checking around and making sure it was safe enough. Once he was satisfied he waved Gladio in. Though he had a bit of a harder time, especially with another person with him, he still managed to squeeze in without much issue. "Alright, I'm putting you down now, so try not to fall." He gave his word of warning, crouching down slowly to allow Prompto to ease himself off.

"I won't." He answered confidently, climbing down and adding some distance between the two of them as soon as he was standing on his own. They both instantly felt a little better now that they were in the shade, the sun no longer sapping them. Neither wasted another second before lowering themselves to the ground, taking this opportunity to get a breather. Prompto gravitated towards the cool surface of the stone, lying his head against it and let it reduce his own heated discomfort.

Ignis sat one one side of him, keeping pretty close to him now, Gladio on the other hand, noticing the distance the blond was constantly trying to put between the two of them made his way to the opposite side where he lowered himself and kept his eye on the outside. "You two holdin' up alright?" He asked after a while, breaking the silence that fell between them.

"Peachy." The blond answered, trying to at least sound like his normal self if nothing else. Though, it didn't come out as cheery as he had planned on it. His eyes were closed as he relished in the short amount of time they had.

Gladio just nodded to himself, not buying it for a second, "And you?" He looked over to the other, "And don't give me that 'fine' bullshit."

He thought about how he should answer now, "I'll be alright." He finally spoke, "A little exhausted, but my problems can be pretty easily fixed." He flashed a glance at Prompto, "Some complications may be a bit more difficult to overcome."

Prompto stiffened up a little at those words. He knew it was true, but that didn't stop it from stinging from it being said aloud. He let out a small sigh, turning over to his side and faced away from the others. "I'll be fine." He assured them. Ignis more so than Gladio, given that Ignis was the only one that knew the most about what he had been through.

The larger man huffed out a breath, "If you say so." As he turned though, he noticed some dark marks creeping around the back of Prompto's neck. Looking more closely he could tell they were bruises. "Hey." He called quietly, "Turn around for a minute," It took a second, but slowly he complied, turning to face Gladio, eyes cast downward. With that he could now see the obvious rough shape of a hand. "What the hell?" He spoke quietly, gaze following the length of it.

The younger looked up long enough to tell what he was looking at, "It's nothing." He answered before he had the chance to ask anything, "It'll go away."

Gladio slowly shook his head in disagreement, "That's not the point." He raised his voice a little louder than he had meant to and felt immediate regret when it resulted in a slight wince. "What did they do?" He asked more gently this time. "You can tell me."

"Nothing happened." he answered without a second's worth of hesitation. "These things happen when you...when you don't..." He let his words trail off, not wanting to go any further with his explanation. "It's over with, ok?" Turning back around to face away once more, he drew up his knees and leaned further against the wall. "Just forget about it." His last words were muffled as he buried his face.

Ignis gave Gladio a look that told him not to press it further when he was about to ask, so instead he focused on something else. "You said how you got that gun was a long story. We have time now, so care explaining that one to me?"

He thought back on the events, choosing his words carefully so as to leave out certain details, and not mentioning the parts tat caused Impius to lash out like he did. Not even including how exactly he died, just saying that he was taken care of and that he managed to snag the gun while it was dropped and before anyone could show up. As he spoke he retrieved the gun to hold it and examine it, almost using it as a sort of distraction. When he was done relaying the experience he looked from the gun to Prompto, "Here." He said extending towards him, "Perhaps you should carry it instead."

He turned his head enough to look at the offered weapon, and looking at only brought back the image Ignis being beat with it, and the way it was used with the intention of threatening their lives. Along with other memories he had to fight to keep from coming to the front of his mind, "I don't want it." He kept his eyes on Ignis' face, not daring to look away.

"Are you sure?" Ignis asked, "You're much better equipped to handle this than I a-"

"Just get rid of it." He answered snappily, while still keeping his voice at a reasonable volume. "You can toss it for all I care." He risked glancing down at it and was drawn in on the few red stains on it. Some of which was most likely Ignis' blood.

The adviser said nothing as he put it back away. Despite his request, he wasn't going to throw it away. He decided to hold on to it, should the other have a change of heart.

* * *

Noctis traveled down the path as silently as he could, which was a pretty challenging task when every little noise you made bounced and echoed off every stone. He had his light shining bright, reflecting off all the moisture on the walls, each flare catching his attention. Every little thing and he expected it to be someone else. If being here as long as he had was enough to make him that paranoid, he couldn't imagine how the other two had dealt with it. He kept his blade held tightly in his hand, ready to strike should the need present itself.

Lost in thought he was barely aware when he reached that large room again, and after a quick look-over he veered to his right,stepping over Legatus' body and slipping into the other corridor and stayed close to the wall as he moved. He heard a little bit of shuffling ahead, but it was out of sight. Going a bit further he came across his first cell and peaked inside. The sight took him off guard as his breath caught for a moment. "What the." He whispered out. Two men huddled in the far corner were looking back at him.

"Please." One of them begged, tears flowing down his face, not a single attempt to hide his fear. "Please don't. We can't...we can't take anymore." Looking them over he could see the same blue earring hanging from his ear. Looking to the other showed the result of a red earring.

He placed his hand on the door and rattled it cautiously, testing out the strength of it. Of course it didn't budge, but he hadn't exactly expected it to. "Don't worry." He spoke calmly to them. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm going to get you out of here alright?"

"You can't do that." The one with the red earring said, voice void of any resemblance of life. "You can't. You do that, and we'll pay the price. I've seen it. Any sort of resistance will get you punished, no exceptions."

"I can promise you that won't happen." Noctis replied, "A lot of the men who did this, they can't touch you now, it's safe." He looked around for anything to use. "I'll be right back." He said through the bars as he continued walking down the hall, spotting a cart a few yards further down. As he passed other cells, he made sure to avoid looking in them just yet, afraid of what he might see. Reaching the cart, he slowly looked over the edge and smiled to himself at seeing it filled with pickaxes, a bit on the rusty and worn side, but they seemed sturdy enough.

He reached in and retrieved the one that looked to be in the best shape, and as he was turning he caught a glimpse of the cell next to him. Feeling the impulse to gaze in, he had the urge to quickly look back away. There was so much blood spread across the floor of it. Pushing that image away, he gripped the handle harder and jogged back down the hall to the two men at the end. Without waiting another moment, he lifted the pick above his head and brought it down full force on the lock, breaking it off. As it made contact he winced as the small shards of wood dug into his hands.

Both of them seemed reluctant about leaving their corner. Nervous in fact. "Come on." Noctis implored, "Just stay close and you'll be fine, now hurry up." He didn't wait as he moved on to the next cell and repeated the process, doing so until he reached the last one. But, on that one he stopped himself before he brought the pick down, realizing there was no need to break this one off. It was clear from where he stood that the man inside was dead. It was an older man, and on his ear was a purple earring, which matched the multiple bruises adorning his features. Noctis let out a sad sigh and dropped the tool to the ground, clattering as it collided.

He turned to look back down the length of the hall, and he was pleased to see a few were finally making there way out of their cells. A bit slower than he would have liked, but at least they were leaving. Better than nothing he supposed. He made his way back past all of them, figuring it was up to them if they followed or not, but he wasn't going to force them to do anything. He did what he said he would do, which was release them, the rest would have to be left to what they saw fit. "I would suggest you guys maybe staying within these mines, at least until more help comes for you." He threw back at them, just as a bit of warning. They wouldn't stand a chance if they got lost outside, especially if they were lost until night came rolling in.

He made his way back to the start of the tunnel, aware of the small shuffles and steps that were going on behind him. Glancing behind him, seeing these people in their ragged and weathered clothing reminded him that Prompto and Ignis were still in the exact same apparel. With his mind made up, he made his way to the first room they had come across, the one with all the equipment and materials that had belonged to their captives.

Rummaging through the various baskets of clothing he was eventually able to find their main pieces, with the exception of a few, such as Prompto's vest, but everything else he was able to recover. Which surprisingly wasn't too difficult given there actually wasn't much to dig through. He draped it over them over his arm ad continued searching, finding nothing else of theirs. "They have to keep provisions somewhere." He mumbled to himself, scanning around one last time.

Finding nothing he exited, nearly jumping forgetting that there were still the others wandering around. He hadn't expected them to still be wandering around here, but he assumed they had the same goal he has, which was to rummage around for anything that was useful. He stepped aside as a few of them wandered in and began searching for their own things, noticing that the one with the blue earring's hands were in about the same shape Prompto's were.

He pushed all that aside and left them to do their own thing. Deciding that he wasn't going to join back with the others until he had at least water for them, knowing by just looking at them that they were in desperate need of it, he continued his search for any unexplored areas. He carefully stepped around any of the people he came across, not wanting to bump into any of them. Mainly for their own sake at the way half of them looked. Figuring back where they stored all of the coal was probably his best bet on finding any of that and without a second though, headed back in that direction.

* * *

They weren't sure how long they had been sitting there, but it had felt like at least an hour. It had to be about midday now, and even in the shade as they were, they could feel the heat of the sun reaching them. Ignis was really feeling everything catching up with him now, and Prompto had resorted to actually lying on the ground, without having to be asked or told to do so. Which Gladio did find a tad concerning. He was on his side, facing the rock, and he hadn't moved in a few minutes.

Gladio watched him for a few seconds, finally making out the rise and fall of his breathing. From how even it was, he guessed that he was asleep. It was actually pretty impressive how he could sleep in such an uncomfortable spot like that.

Ignis opened his eyes to gaze over at him, noticing the slight color to his face. He reached over to fell it with the back of his hand, not liking how it was quite a bit warmer than it had been earlier. Looking down at his bandaged hands, he could see the little bit of red peeking from underneath the edges. "We need to get actual curatives as soon as we are able." He lifted up the end of the white material, holding back a cringe at the festering blisters that resided underneath.

"How bad are they?" Gladio asked, noting the look on the other man's face.

He laid the fabric back down and leaned back against the wall where he was, "Not great." He answered truthfully, "They could be a lot worse, but I fear that it is highly likely that they will indeed worsen." Next to him, Prompto's body spasmed as a few coughs escaped. He groaned quietly once those subsided and stilled once again. "It's already less than ideal." He added afterwards.

Things grew quiet for quite sometime, and at the sound of footsteps nearby, the both of them had their guards back up, making their way to their feet. Getting up a bit too quickly for his own good, Ignis had to use the wall to hold himself upright, feeling slightly dizzy with the sudden movement. For a few seconds after that his vision blurred and ears rang, then breathing seemed to be more difficult. Before he knew what was going on he could feel someone pushing him back down, hands on his shoulders. Looking up, he could barely make out Gladio's form. And, though he couldn't understand what he was saying, he could hear his voice ad was pretty sure he heard his name somewhere in there as well.

Soon after that another form stepped around into view, and to his relief his sight cleared enough to see that it was Noctis. Eventually his hearing began to return as well and he could finally hear what they were saying. "-ou alright?" Noctis was asking, "Hey, Iggy? You with me?"

He blinked a couple of times, hoping to clear the rest of the fog, "Hmm, oh, yes, I-I'm alright. Just stood up too quickly."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's all it was." Gladio replied sarcastically.

"Here." Noctis cut back in and extended something out to Ignis. He looked to the offered object and was more than overjoyed to see that it was actually a full bottle of water. "They had these stashed away. They had food too, but I feel like eating what they had would do more harm than good, so I left it."

"Thanks." Ignis carefully accepted the water, just now noticing how much his hands were shaking and having to use both to keep his hold on it.

"You got it?" Noctis asked, hand still holding onto the plastic container. When Ignis nodded he released. "And I also found these for you." He added, lying his clothes next to him. "Figured you two would want to get out of those."

Ignis nodded in appreciation, then cast his gaze over to Prompto. Noctis followed his stare, "Don't worry, I got this." He lifted another bottle of water from his arm and dropped the remaining two he had to the ground. With water in hand, he crouched next to Prompto, and with the way he was sleeping, he almost didn't want to wake him. But the knowledge of them both being dehydrated, he pushed the guilt aside and gently shook his shoulder. "Hey." He whispered softly.

The blond's features scrunched in discomfort at having been disturbed, until it clicked. His instincts kicked in at the touch and his body automatically struck out as he swung an arm in Noctis' direction. Luckily the prince saw it coming and easily caught him by the wrist, "Calm down, it's me." He tried to soothe. Prompto slowly forced his muscles to relax, or as much as he was able, but he still kept his eyes wide open as he looked around warily. Noctis cautiously held the water up, "I, um, brought this if you want some."

Letting out a few deep breaths, he was calm enough to speak, "Sorry." His voice sounded a lot quieter than he wanted it to. The prince went to give him the water, but looking down at his hands he quickly thought against it. Instead he unscrewed the lid himself, then offered it back. "Thank you." Prompto then accepted it, feeling slightly embarrassed about it.

"Remember, slow sips." Ignis said in between his own sips from where he was.

"I know." He replied, a bit irritated from being told something so obvious. He took a small experimental sip, making sure that went down easily. It did, in fact it felt pretty nice against his raw throat. Noctis then placed something next to him, looking to see what it was it doesn't think he would ever be more pleased to see his old dirty clothes.

"Sorry, I couldn't find your vest, but I managed to find everything else." He apologized, standing back up to sit next to Gladio. "Take your time. We aren't in any hurry. Or I didn't run into anyone else while I was in there, so it's relatively safe."

Prompto stopped mid sip to ask, "Did you help everyone?"

"Yeah, they are all out. When I left they were all rummaging through the stuff, so they'll be fine." He intentionally left out the fact that one of them was dead, "I told them to stay in there though until better help comes for them."

"Alright." He seemed content enough with that and settled back down. "As long as they aren't locked up anymore, then it's fine." Though still not one-hundred percent satisfied, it was still good enough. His eyes drifted down to his hands, and slightly alarmed they darted to his wrist. Noticing how his code was wrapped up, he couldn't help but feel a little confused. The possibility of the other two knowing about it was heavy in his mind and he now felt self-conscious about it again.


	12. Late Night Conversation

**So, here it is, my attempt at the most feely thing I could write. I do have a song planned for this one. So when you get to the asterisk (*) It may help if you listen to the song 'Better than Yourself" by Lukas Graham. But it's not necessary. Anyway, hope you enjoy. ^-^**

* * *

Both Ignis and Prompto had finished drinking their water, already feeling slightly better now that they were a little better hydrated. Still weren't back up to a suitable condition, but they were far better at the very least. Ignis especially, knowing that refusing to drink what they had due to the need of using it for Prompto did not help in the slightest with that. Of course, looking back on it, he wouldn't have done anything differently, despite the fact that he now had to deal with an infection anyway.

Now that he felt as though he could stand without getting Light-headed, Ignis gathered up his clothing and stepped as far from the others as he could in order to change. Doing so quickly and already feeling more like his old self now that he was out of those rags. He finished straightening everything out and re-joined the others. Looking to Prompto he suggested that he should go ahead and do the same. "Go ahead and change into your clothes, you'll feel better." He sat back next to him and looked to his own pile of clothes.

Prompto looked down at them as well. "I will." He answered, looking from them to everyone around him. Ignis saw the subtle mortification on his face at the thought of changing in the presence of others right now.

"We can step out if need be." Ignis offered. "It's not a problem if you would prefer tha-"

"No!" Prompto quickly cut him off. "It's alright." He pushed himself up, stumbling slightly and scooped up his own things and headed to the back of their little nook. Placing them down, he gripped the bottom of his shirt, holding onto for a few seconds before finally pulling it off. As soon as it was over, he swiftly grabbed his tank top and threw it on. Next were the pants. With these he hesitated a bit more, struggling internally a bit more with this process. Shoving his insecurities aside, he removed those as fast as his injuries would allow. He fumbled putting his own pants on in his haste. Somehow, the whole changing thing made him feel highly uncomfortable and disgusting.

He turned to walk back to the others, kicking something as he did so. Looking down, gratitude washed through him at the sight of his wrist band. Scooping it up, he wasted no time in snapping it around his arm. Once that was on, the bandage underneath was ripped away, seeing as it was no longer needed. With that he could feel a bit more at ease.

"Everything good? We good to go now?" Gladio asked. Staying here was not exactly the way he wanted to spend the rest of the day or the night. There was no telling if and when more people would show up. It was made clear to them that more people were involved in this operation than they had first anticipated.

Noctis shot him a look, "We all want to go, but we can't push them if they still need a moment to recover a bit."

"I know that." Gladio retorted rapidly, "But the amount of time that will take is too long. You know as well as I do that we can't stay here. It's only a matter of time before someone comes along and notices things aren't exactly like we left them."

Noctis grit his teeth and looked away, "Only if you two are ready." He said stubbornly, looking to the others for their answers."

"Seeing as we are no longer on the verge of death by thirst, I'd say now would be a fine time to head out." He then faced the blond who was still in the back, "Are you ready to go?" He asked, having no hints of pressuring in his voice.

Reluctantly he nodded his approval. "Yeah, I'm ok with that." If he was honest, he was feeling pretty terrible, but the need to get away from this place as soon as possible was too strong of a pull. "Let's just go." He finished of by walking and shoving passed them to get out, immediately feeling less cramped by being out in the open.

Ignis stepped out after him, "Well, that's enough for me I suppose." He turned to face Noctis and Gladio, "Let's get going. It's still early enough in the day for us to make some decent distance before it gets too dark."

As Prompto stood and waited on the others, he ran his fingers through his hair. He pulled his right hand away quickly when it brushed passed his earring, having forgotten it was there. Reaching back up, he ran his fingers over it, wrapping them around and slightly tugged on it. Using both hands now, he tried pulling the back off, getting frustrated when it wouldn't so much as budge. "Come on." He growled under his breath, pulling on the two sides harder now.

"Leave it alone for now, Prom." Ignis said from behind him, causing him to jump out of start. "This things aren't going to come off that easily." He added, feeling his own. Looking at it, Prompto could see the redness and rawness around his own, showing that he had already tried tediously to remove his own, but with zero results. "When we reach a town we can pick something up to cut them off, but for now, it's best to just try and ignore them."

He let his hand drop to his side, not at all happy about leaving it be, but seeing as there was no point trying, decided against messing with it further. Gladio and Noctis stepped up behind them, watched the exchange but said nothing. Sure they were both quite curious about the odd accessories, but now wasn't the time to ask about them. That would have to wait until the past few days weren't still so fresh in their minds.

Without thinking, the blond slowly reached for his left hand, scratching at the edges of the bandages and just skimming over the various blisters lingering under them. Eventually he was scratching under them now, trying hopelessly to stop the itch that was gradually getting more annoying. Glancing down, he peeled away part of the material, noticing how there were a couple more sores. He traced a finger over them, a little confused about them. They didn't hurt or anything, but they itched quite a bit, not to mention it didn't make sense for them to be where they were.

Footsteps strolling passed him dragged him out of his fixation as Noctis walked by, "Everything good?" He asked, noticing the way he had been staring down.

Prompto nodded, "Mmm hmm." He answered, lowering his hands to his sides and look away, off in the distance. "So, which way are we going?" He asked, feigning interest in something else.

Noctis looked around, "Um, slight issue with that." He answered quietly and honestly, "This isn't the way we came in, so we may have to work our way around."

"We had to take a bit of a detour when finding that place." Gladio pointed a thumb back towards the mines. "If we had known there was another way in, this would have been a bit easier."

"How long is this going to take?" Prompto asked, looking around to either side of the rock formations.

"Wish I knew." Gladio answered, scratching the back of his head, "But being underground like that threw us off a little."

"No use in standing around then." Prompto spoke up, forcing his voice to carry a shadow of it's cheerfulness, "We're wasting time by talking about it that could be spent actually moving." He spun around to begin walking around the left side, vision blurring slightly from the movement, but cleared back up within a few seconds. If his step faltered in any way the others didn't comment on it, though Ignis did keep a watchful eye on him.

* * *

For a couple of hours they walked on, the occasional comment and retort here and there was the only thing breaking up the heavy silence that draped over them. It hadn't taken long for someone else to take the lead as Prompto fell behind to the back, just in front of Ignis, who intentionally stayed behind him. Noctis was now in the front, followed closely by Gladio. The both of them would frequently throw a glance behind them, still not trusting the stability of their companions.

Noctis stuffed his hands into his pockets, ghosting over the contents of them, and at the feeling he instantly perked up. "Oh!" He blurted out, turning around on the spot, "Prom, I found this while I was in there." He pulled the camera out and held it forward, "Thought you would want it back."

The gunslinger looked over to it, eyes finally softening a bit at the sight of it, "I-I thought it was gone." He admitted quietly, stepping over to retrieve it. "They broke everything else, so I assumed..." Holding it firmly between both hands he switched it on, more than pleased to see that it did indeed still have function. Now distracted, he was able to keep better pace with the others as he flipped through the various photos he had captured over the passed couple of weeks. Each one seemed to feel more and more odd and distant though. They didn't feel quite so real anymore. His thumb drifted over to the on/off button, and with a lingering gaze of the current image, he pressed it down, shutting it off.

Igns watched this from over his shoulder, watched him lower the device and hold it by his side instead. Though, as uninterested as he seemed in it, he still kept a strong hold on it. He lifted that hand just enough to scratch at it with his other. Looking closer he saw the few blisters poking out from underneath, "Don't do that." He spoke up quickly, making the other pause mid scratch, "Scratching it will only make it spread more." Looking down, and now noticing what he was doing, Prompto curled up his fingers on his left hand.

He remembered that janitor guy telling him something similar. "Is it fine if I just rub it then?" He asked, needing some sort of alternative.

Ignis didn't look happy about that either, but allowed it, "I would prefer you didn't, but if it keeps you from picking at it, then go ahead." He waved his hand in the air as a gesture of permission. He thought he may as well allow it, not like he would stop messing with it altogether anyway. "Just don't rub at it too roughly, or you'll irritate it more than it already is."

"Right." Prompto replied, already tenderly rubbing his fingers over top of the wrappings, using the semi-rough fabric to help alleviate the tingling sensation. But, no matter how much he messed with it, there was no relief from it.

Gladio gazed up at the now darkening sky as evening slowly stalked through, "We need to find somewhere to stay for the night." He glanced back at the other two and noticed how they had both visibly slowed and fallen behind, "Noct." He said louder, making the other finally come to a stop. "I think we should stop for the night."

"We can't do that." The prince answered obviously. "We haven't reached a haven yet." He scanned the area, seeing no markings in the immediate vicinity. "Maybe we'll find something if we go a little further."

Gladio leaned in a little close so as to only speak to Noctis, "Look at them." He started in a hushed tone, "They are barely keeping up as it is. A night of actual sleep could really do some good right now, because who knows if they even got that much." He finally listened and looked back at them, both were breathing heavier than they should have been.

"Alright." He gave in, "I guess we can set up right here then." Gladio nodded and got to work on setting things up. As he did so, he made it clear to Ignis and Prompto that they were to just sit by and stay out of way. Prompto merely fiddled with his camera more, looking it over more so than actually doing anything with it. As long as the presence of it kept his mind somewhat preoccupied, then the others would leave him be.

* * *

By the time the sun was setting, they had a pretty decent fire going and Gladio was getting their meal ready, of course you could't exactly call cup noodles a meal, but it was good enough. After having nothing, it seemed pretty damn appetizing. He handed them out to everyone, Ignis and Prompto were a bit hesitant in taking their first bite though. Eventually though, the adviser did sample it, taking his time with the first bite. Having nothing for a while did tend to make things taste and seem off. But after that, the next few were a bit easier to handle.

Prompto stared at his own for a bit, honestly not feeling like eating anything. He just plain wasn't hungry, and he wasn't sure if it was due to the low blood sugar, the fact that his infection was still getting worse, or if it was because of the memories still floating around. Either way, the thought of eating was nauseating. But, he thought against it and forced himself to try the noodles. He continued this process until he finished about half of them and decided that was enough for one night. Ignis himself also didn't finish all of his, but it was more than half at least.

With the night carrying on, Gladio quickly got the tent set up and offered to take the first watch. The other three climbed in, Prompto being in the middle as he lied on his back and stared up at the roof. The two on either side of him finding sleep rather easily, but the various thoughts and recollections swirled around his hazy mind for what felt like hours. Every crack of the fire and every movement from Gladio outside made his eyes flicker over to the entrance.

Eventually, thanks to sheer exhaustion, he was able to doze off for a short time. Unsure of how long that lasted, he was easily shook out of it as Noctis clambered out, switching watches with Gladio. Feeling the other's weight next to him now, he felt himself stiffen and involuntarily turned away from him.

The shield was able to fall asleep like it was nothing, which wasn't surprising considering they hadn't gotten much sleep either since this all got started. He was maybe asleep for a short two or so hours when something, he wasn't sure what, gradually pulled him from it. Slowly coming to he realized that is sounded like whimpering, and it didn't take him long after that to figure out who it was. He turned his head just enough to see behind him, slightly confused when he found that spot now empty. Sitting up a little more, he found the blond he was looking for, now lying on the other side of Ignis, his back facing the back of the tent.

He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself upon seeing that he was asleep. Putting his head back down he found himself unable to drift back off as the sounds escalated into more panicked ones. Before he could do anything, he felt Ignis move next to him, presumably awoken by the other's internal struggles and was now sitting up. He could hear him speak softly to him, trying to wake him up.

Next he heard was Prompto gasp as he felt and heard the shuffle of him jerking upright. His alarmed gasp quickly transitioned into fast breaths as he struggled to calm himself. As he listened to Ignis' own hushed words, the hyperventilating died down, dwindling down to a somewhat normal rate, though they still seemed fast and shallow. Listening closely now he could make out what was being said. "Prompto, this is the third time in the past two days." He said calmly, "You need to talk about what happened, holding it in isn't going to make it go away. I'm not saying you need to right now, but eventually, you're going to have to get it off your chest."

There was a deep and shuddering breath, and from the tone and cracking of his voice, Gladio could tell that he was or either had been crying. "I'm sorry." He said softly, "I'm trying, but every time...every time I close my eyes.." There was a small hitch and a few seconds went by before he continued. "I can still hear him talking. Every word, clearly." The man had to clench his own jaw to keep from saying anything when Prompto choked back another sob, coughing slightly with the action.

Ignis gave him a moment to collect himself. "Take your time." He soothed, "You don't need to say anymore right now if you don't want to.

"No, I'm fine." He protested, voice a bit more steady than it was. "When he...when he took me away." His eyes dropped down to his lap, "He told me that if I resisted...That he would kill you." Blinking a few times to clear the moisture he continued, a lot quieter in case Noctis could hear them, "The whole time, he...he had that damn gun lying in front of me."

Ignis own hands balled up, knuckles going white. Gladio's would have been the same, but he was afraid of moving at the moment, knowing this was supposed to be a private conversation. He couldn't let Prompto know that he heard all this, it would probably only make things worse.

"And Dominus." He began again after a another moment of controlling himself, "He just-he just watched, saying nothing." He bit his own lip in an attempt to keep it from quivering, the copper taste slowly spilled into his mouth, but he didn't release it. "After...that...He warned me against anymore disobedience. If I did...then I wouldn't be the one paying for it." His voice broke and he couldn't hold the tears back anymore. "I couldn't let that happen, I couldn't." Letting his head fall forward, he jumped as he felt arms wrap around him. There were no words spoken, but they didn't need to be, this was enough.

Gladio lied there in silence, unsure of how he should feel about this. He was pissed, yeah, but there was nothing he could do about it now, the ones who did this were dead. Had he known earlier, he would have made Dominus' death be dragged out for far longer. As far as he was concerned those bastards got off pretty damn easy. After listening to that scene unfold behind him, there would be no more sleeping that night, his anger alone kept him up the rest of the night. The other two behind him eventually settled down, and he wasn't even sure if they ever went back to sleep. But he remained how he was, staring towards the front of the tent until light finally started to filter through.

* * *

 **Btw, if this hurt to read, just know this hurt just as much to write. ;A;**


	13. Back in One Piece

**Hopefully this isn't too boring to read. Also sorry this one is so short, but the next one will be longer since I'll be wrapping it up in the next one. C:**

* * *

Sure they had been tired before, but now, now it just seemed so much more unbearable than before. If they had been in a safer location they would have gladly gone back to sleep and stayed there for possibly the whole day. Gladio got up with ease, considering he was already awake and everything. Ignis and Prompto, on the other hand, had a bit of a more difficult time waking up all the way. The blond even longer so. As Ignis tried to shake him awake, he mumbled in protest, trying to curl back up as he turned away from the man. Reaching down, he patted him on the cheek, acutely aware of the heat and slight dampness of his face. Deciding to check while he was still asleep, Ignis took a look under the bandages, and he was not at all pleased with the sight.

His jaw clenched subtly as he took in the redness and swelling around the multiple busted blisters. He prodded one of them, eliciting a small gasp from the younger man and he tried to jerk his hand away from the unwelcomed pain. "Sorry." Ignis said quickly, covering the wounds back up. Prompto finally cracked his eyes open at the sound. "Good morning." Ignis greeted, "We'll be leaving here relatively soon. Are you up for some more traveling?" He tried to keep the tone normal and even.

The other nodded, but didn't make any immediate moves to get up. The adviser gave him a moment and he eventually did push himself up into a sitting position, albeit a bit slow, but he was somewhat up nonetheless. He rubbed his eyes with the backs of his wrists, chasing away the fog that still lingered within them. "Yeah." He finally spoke when he was sure he could get something out well enough, though it still sounded a bit on the croaky side of things. At least it was understandable though.

"Just come outside when you're ready to go." Ignis said, standing up and stepping out the tent, leaving Prompto to himself for a moment. Now alone, he tentatively stretched out his tense muscles, wincing at the way they pulled and ached from the action. He felt quite awful, but he pushed that feeling aside and persuaded his body to cooperate in the process of getting the rest of the way to his feet. After all, the longer he took, the longer it would be before they could put all this behind them for good.

He crept his way over to the entrance and pulled the flap back, squinting as the sunlight shone down in his face. The brightness made him painfully aware of the dull throb in the back of his head. Shielding his eyes, he gradually climbed the rest of the way out, looking from one person to the other. All of which were busying themselves with cleaning everything up and gathering everything together. He didn't expect for all of them to look as tired as they did though. They all looked as exhausted as he felt. Which was saying something.

Noctis glanced over to him as he approached and immediately saw the paleness of his complexion, "Prom?" He questioned, getting the others attention. Once he had it he went on, "Are you feeling alright?"

Prompto met his gaze and cleared his throat before answering, "Y-yeah. I'm good." He tried to sound more convincing than he did, though to the others it didn't come out that way. Looking to each of them, he corrected himself, "Well, I will be." He broke that contact he held with them and walked a few feet away, gazing out in the direction they would be continuing in shortly.

Gladio was packing things up in silence, moving on to the tent once everyone was out of it. He stayed quiet as he did so, keeping to himself, but he still cast the occasional glance over to the others. After the previous night he wasn't sure what he could say. And the way they spoke of Dominus, it was no wonder the blond was wary of him, being of similar stature and all. Doesn't mean it didn't sting any less when he unintentionally flinched away from him. He released a heavy sighed and carried on his task of disassembling and packing.

"Here." Ignis turned to face Noctis who had just lightly tapped his shoulder. He faced an outstretched hand holding out another bottle of water, "You two should go ahead and drink some." He noticed the look the other was giving him and quickly defended, "Don't worry we still have another." He held up the remaining one. "We can just share this one as needed, if that works for you."

"That would be most ideal." Ignis confirmed. Unscrewing the bottle he first made his way over to Prompto before taking any for himself. The latter peered over his shoulder at the sound of approaching footsteps. He held it out for him, keeping a firm grip on it until he had both hands cupping it, just to be sure he didn't drop it. "Try to drink a good amount."

"Right." Prompto replied, taking a few small sips. He drank about a third of it and handed it back over. "Thanks." He half mumbled. He had a hard time meeting the other man's eyes. Things felt a little awkward to him after his episode the previous night, and honestly he felt pretty embarrassed having broken down like that. He held the water out to Ignis while keeping his eyes directed at a slightly lower spot that Ignis' own.

"Alright, that just about does it." Gladio said from his spot a few feet away. "As soon as you guys are ready, we can head out."

Prompto looked from Ignis to Gladio and nodded, "I think I'm good to go." He brushed a few strands of hair from his face and waited until Ignis had some of the water himself before they both joined back with the others.

"If we go now without any stops, we will be able to reach the Regalia before nightfall." Noctis informed them. Though, he knew they would have to pass by that clump of buildings as well in order to reach it, but he left that part out. No use in making them worry about it the whole way there. Glancing at everyone else, and making sure they were all there and looked as close as ready as they could, he set their pace. It was a decent speed, but he kept it slow enough so as not to wear the other two out too quickly.

* * *

They were making adequate time, considering, but they had slowed down considerable. Though, that had been expected, it wasn't thought to be to the degree that it had been. If he had to guess, he would say they may have been about half way to the cluster of buildings. Perhaps further given that he was trying to veer a little bit around that place if he could help it; he didn't want to risk it on the chance that there were more of those people there somewhere.

He gazed behind him, Gladio still trailing a few feet behind. Looking past him were the other two, and then he noticed why they had slowed so much and he felt slightly guilty for not noticing sooner. Ignis was now mostly supporting the blond, who somehow managed to look paler now. On the bright side, he was still walking pretty fine, for the most part. Knowing him, he had probably refused to have any help other than the help Ignis was giving him.

Pausing for a few seconds, he gave them the chance to catch back up, watching warily as they did so. "If you need, we can stop for a few min-"

"It's alright." Prompto answered swiftly. "Stopping will only make this take longer...than it has to." He whispered out between breaths. He waited for the prince to continue walking before taking another step himself, getting an unexpected dizzy spell this time and having to lean further against Ignis to stay upright.

"Easy." Ignis spoke softly to him, "I know you don't want to hear this, but you can't keep going like this." The blond didn't respond, but the increase of weight against him was answer enough. "Gladio, how bad is your wound?" He said louder, changing his gaze to look ahead of him.

Said man stopped in his tracks and turned to face the two of them. "It's not that bad." He answered honestly. "Need me to take over?" Seeing the way Ignis was now holding up most their gunslinger, he was assuming that's what was needed of him.

"If you don't mind." Looking to Prompto he added, "Are you ok with that?"

Gladio expected him to flat-out refuse, with the way he had been acting towards him, but he didn't foresee him actually accepting it. "Alright." Was his short answer. If he didn't feel as terrible and drained as he did, it would have been out of the question. Even though he agreed to it, it was still obvious how uncomfortable the notion made him, but he forced himself to push that aside and told himself there was no reason to worry about it. He figured the only way to get over it was to just give in and at least try to pretend everything was alright again, even if it didn't feel like it. Just like before, he reluctantly climbed onto the man's back and allowed him to carry him.

"You good?" Gladio asked.

Prompto hummed in confirmation and the man slowly stood back upright. The younger gripped a little harder than necessary with the movement, but Gladio said nothing of it. Even with Prompto keeping his head lifted, he could feel the warmth coming off him. It didn't feel to bad to be overly concerning, but it wasn't exactly relieving either. "And you're good to go, right?" He directed at Ignis.

"Yes, my condition is rather fine for the time being."

Gladio nodded, "Ok, let's keep going then." He strolled back up next to Noctis, Ignis following close behind. Now that they didn't have to slow down for the sake of one of their own, they were able to start moving much faster, and within the next few hours the prince could see the buildings in the distance.

"It's not too much further." He informed the others, still making sure they stayed a good distance from that place. "Maybe an hour or so at the least." Of course, it would be faster if they followed the road, but that wasn't a risk he was willing to take. Not now anyway. "Everyone up to get back now in one go?"

"I don't believe that's a question in need of asking." Ignis said flatly.

"Yeah, of course." Noctis replied a bit sheepishly. He looked over to Gladio and Prompto, the latter appearing to be asleep. Either that, or he was just being extremely still and quiet. He breathed out and pushed forward. They needed to get back as soon as was possible. He knew they had various curatives, but he wasn't sure if they had anything that would help with infection. He hoped they did.

Eventually they finally reached the car, feeling the stress and the weight of the last few days finally being lifted from their shoulders. Of course they were still stuck here until Cindy could bring them what they needed, but it was something at the very least. Approaching it, Gladio gave Prompto a slight shake, trying to get his attention, unsure if he was awake or not. He stirred with the motion, groaning in annoyance at being disturbed. "Wake up." He called to the blond. "We're here, you can get down now if you want."

He had almost forgotten he was being carried, and with great pleasure, he worked his way down. Placing a hand on the car to keep his balance, he thanked the larger man shyly, and with the guidance of Ignis, he crawled into the backseat and lied down. "Ok." Noctis said, opening up the trunk, "I'm pretty sure we have some potions back here." He said, rummaging through what they had. In no time he pulled a couple out and tossed one to Gladio. "One would be enough for that." He added, nodding towards the still open wound on his side.

"You should wait before using that one on Prompto." Ignis stopped him before he could bring it over. Seeing the question in his eyes before he could ask, the adviser gave him his answer, "We need to clean his hands first, make sure they cleaned out enough before closing them up."

"I don't think we have anything for that though." Noctis responded, turning back to the trunk and dug around some more as he spoke, "All we have are potions and antidotes, and neither of those are exactly going to help."

"No, they won't. We need to get some antibiotics or something else of that sort." He scanned over the stuff Noctis was sifting through, "It's alright though, it can wait until we get somewhere. The infection isn't life-threatening."

"And you're sure about that?" He asked skeptically, "I saw what they looked like. I saw the hands of some of those other people, and they didn't look 'alright' to me."

"Noct, with all the blisters it looks worse than it is. I can assure you, it will be fine. What we need to worry about is getting out of here."

"Yeah." He replied with a huff, giving in, "It should be within the next day or so for Cindy to get here. I gave her a call before we went looking for you two, and she said she could in a few days then. So, should be either today or tomorrow."

"Let's just hope it's today." With that Ignis walked off to sit in the back seat with Prompto, leaving the door open so they could have some actual air flow.


	14. Confiding in Others

**Welp, here it is, the last chapter, it was a roller coaster of a story for me anyway. C: If you are able, I urge you to listen to "Hey Brother" by Avicii, I feel like it will help the reading experience. :D**

 **Thank you to** SinikkavonWolperting **for beta reading every chapter of this for me. C:**

* * *

The day raged on, soon transitioning into evening, and it was only a matter of time after that until the could make out the approaching headlights down the road. They tried not to get their hopes up too much though, just on the down side that it wasn't her and they were stuck waiting for another day or so, which was less than ideal. Noctis unconsciously sat up a little in his seat in anticipation, and Gladio's eyes locked on it as it drew closer, both silently praying to themselves. Ignis watched warily from where he was, staying still; the blond doing the same, while trying to fight sleep.

Slowly the vehicle rolled up and eased to a stop a few feet away from them. None of them moved until the could see the godsend herself emerge from the driver's side, stepping out with the grace of a savior. Ignis and Prompto remained where they were while the others got out to greet her and set to work on getting everything fixed up for them to go.

"Are you going to tell them anything about what happened?" Ignis asked when they were left alone.

"About what?" Prompto asked, feigning innocence.

"I believe you know what." Ignis replied softly, "I'm not saying you have to, but it wouldn't hurt for them to know. They can't help if they are to be left in the dark."

The blond fell silent after that, fiddling with his hands in his lap nervously, "If only it was that easy." He finally answered, "I would rather that they didn't know, but I don't know." He lifted his gaze to meet Ignis', "What do you think I should do, you're better in these types of situations."

Ignis hummed to himself, "That's not for me to decide, you have to do that yourself. Whichever you choose to do, it's up do you. And know that there is no wrong choice." He placed a hand on the younger's shoulder and gave it a light and supportive squeeze, prompting a nod from the other.

"I'll think about it." He answered, looking back down to his hands. "If I do, I want to wait until we're far from here."

"That's understandable." Ignis agreed, "Just whenever you're ready, no need to rush it."

"Yeah." Prompto said, mainly to let the other know that he had heard him, "Thanks, by the way...for last night. And sorry about that, I didn't expect for that to happen." His voice faded as he looked away, feeling a bit shameful about the whole situation and episode that had ensued.

Ignis took a deep breath before replying, "Prompto, after what happened, I'm honestly surprised you held it together that long. Most people aren't strong enough to hold themselves together for one day, let alone two. And being in a stressful environment such as that, only proves your own strength at keeping yourself together like you did."

Prompto didn't know how to feel about that. Yes, it did make him feel less foolish about the event, but at the same time he felt a bit more self-conscious about it. "Well, when you put it like that." He finally settled on saying, everything else sounding stupid in his head, "Then I guess it's not that big of a deal."

Ignis looked as though he wanted to say more, but he never got the chance when the two front doors were opened as the other to re-entered. "That was quicker than expected." He opted for instead.

"Well, you know." Noctis said, starting the Regalia up.

"Yeah, this is Cindy we're talking about." Prompto piped in with more of his usual cheerfulness, but the adviser could still see a bit of dullness in his eyes. Though part of it was from fever, not all of it was. He sighed and leaned back against his seat, after all this time, the both of them could finally feel relaxed. Relaxed without it being laced with unease.

"Why don't you two take this chance to catch some more sleep, surely what you got last night wasn't enough." Gladio spoke over his shoulder. He knew for a fact they didn't, but he couldn't just flat-out say that he knew that. "It will probably be a while before we get to a place where we can really sleep anyway."

"Can't say I wasn't already planning on doing that." Prompto answered honestly, barely keeping his eyes open. He settled further into the back of the seat, turning slightly on his side and within less than a minute he was out.

"There he goes with his usual finesse." Noctis joked, glancing back at his comatose form. He then threw a look over to the other, "Plan on joining him?"

"I believe I can wait for that." He answered, casting his gaze out the window, "For now, I think I'll just try and enjoy the view." With that, he leaned against the door and watched as the landscape strolled by, soaking in and appreciating every second of it. Despite himself, he as well soon drifted off, the repeating scenery before him doing nothing but relaxing him further.

After a few moments of silence, Gladio glanced back, watching for a few seconds to make sure they were both out. "You guys there?" He asked, and after getting no answer he turned to Noctis and turned the radio up slightly to help mask his voice as he spoke. "I don't know what exactly happened when they were back there." He whispered, barely audible, but the prince could still make out his words, "But what ever it was, it's clearly still affecting Prom. And I don't mean just the typical lingering memories that are bound to stay for a few weeks or so."

Noctis unintentionally tightened his hands on the steering wheel, remembering some of the words Dominus had spoken. "Yeah, I know." He said softly, forcing his voice to remain even and calm.

"You know something, don't you?" Gladio pressed, "Something Dominus said?"

Noctis formed a thin line with his mouth, wanting to fill the other in with what he knew, but not giving in to it, "I really shouldn't say. He'll talk about it when he's ready. I think I have an idea, but I don't know for sure, so I can't exactly speak on the subject."

Gladio nodded, knowing it was true, and it really wasn't his place to push the matter, but he couldn't help it. After the previous night, it was just bugging him more and he couldn't help but be concerned about it. And just like Noctis wanted to keep what he knew to himself, he felt obliged to do the same. It was a personal moment and it honestly wasn't meant to be heard by him. With the short conversation over, he turned the radio back down, no longer needing it to drown out their voices.

* * *

Noctis drove through most of the night, passing by a few places they could have stopped, but ignored them, wanting to get more distance between then and that place. More out of paranoia and for the sake of the others feeling safer. Looking back, he found the others still asleep, Gladio on the other hand was still looking forward, managing to stay awake the whole time. Probably more out of respect, knowing that Noctis couldn't sleep yet, so it may have been a bit inconsiderate to do so himself.

Seeing a few lights in the distance, and feeling on the verge of death now, Noctis pulled over at the first sight of a hotel, not even caring about the quality of it at this point. As long as it had a bed, it was good enough. Upon pulling up, he leaned over the back of his seat and gently prodded Ignis' leg, getting a quiet grumble from him as he came to and looked around him. "Did I fall asleep?" He asked as he took in his surroundings, realizing he had a bit of lost time.

"Yeah, mister, 'I'm going to wait.'" Gladio mocked, turning in his own seat to gaze at the other. He was about to reach out to wake him, but stopped himself, "Wake him up, would you?" He asked Ignis.

"Yeah, I'll get him." He nodded and turned his attention over. With a gentle hand, he carefully shook the other way. He was both surprised and relieved to see him wake up easily this time; there was no wild panic behind it. Confusion, yes, but fear was absent from his eyes. "Come on." He spoke once he had his focus, "We're at a hotel now, we'll be staying here for the night, so get up."

"That was fast." He croaked out groggily.

"For you maybe." Noctis teased a bit bitterly, "You slept the whole time." He reminded as he crossed his arms.

Prompto nervously scratched the back of his head, "Well, yeah, I guess." He pulled himself out of the back seat, still feeling just as tired than he would have if he didn't sleep at all. That with the fact that his head was still throbbing dully even without the sun now. He made his way around the vehicle, suppressing a wince the whole time. "So this is our humble abode." He said more to himself, looking the run down place over. Not that he was complaining.

"I'll go ahead and pay for a room, you guys wait here." Gladio offered, walking up to the front desk. The three of them stood around awkwardly, not saying anything until he returned, key in hand. With a wave of that, he urged the others to follow as they made their way to their room. On the way they passed a few people, which was to be expected, and Ignis was blatantly aware of the way Prompto went the extra length to avoid them; moving a little further than necessary to go around them. He couldn't tell if he was doing it on purpose or not.

"Here we are." Gladio announced, unlocking and pushing the door open. Inside were two simple beds, nothing too fancy, but large enough to accommodate the four of them with two on each.

The first thing Ignis did was lead Prompto to the bathroom, wanting to rinse and get his hands clean as well as he could. He stood in front of the sink and allowed Ignis to unwrap them, carefully peeling them away when they clung to the wounds, eliciting a small gasp when they hung on a little too stubbornly. "Sorry." He quickly apologized as he pulled the rest of the material away. "Unfortunately it's too late now to go pick things up, so we'll have to settle for a simple rinse for the time being."

"That's alright." Prompto replied, biting his lip, "It's not too bad." He saw the look Ignis was giving him and quickly added, "When I ignore it." Letting his eyes wander down to his own hands, he internally cringed at the angry red tinge about them. He looked around, for anything else to focus on, though the mirror probably wasn't the best thing to land on. The sight that looked back didn't really reflect what he remembered himself looking like. It was pale and so fragile looking. In the middle of assessing his appearance, he jumped as cool water rushed over his hands, jarring him out of his scrutiny.

"This won't take long." Ignis assured, running his fingers carefully over the blisters, cleaning them to the best of his ability without being too rough with them, though he still had to add some pressure just to make sure it was thorough enough. "As soon as I'm done we can wrap them back up." He glanced down at the used bandages, casting the thought aside of re-using them with how soiled they now were, "With something else, of course."

Prompto nodded and watched Ignis work when his hand ran up a little further up, pushing his wristband up his arm a bit. This time, however, he actually took a moment to really look at it. Moving his hand back down he finally asked, "It may not be my business to ask, but would you care to fill me in?" He made sure to have nothing but kindness behind his words, not wanting to cause more panic, seeing as he had hid it all this time.

For a moment he didn't respond, at a loss of words about what to say, but Ignis could feel how he tensed at the question, "I-I'm not sure." He finally forced out, voice barely a whisper. He gazed down at his band, "It's always just kinda been there." He words were a bit shaky, trying to hide how nervous he was talking about it. "I didn't...didn't know how people would take it. It's not exactly normal."

Ignis kept a neutral expression, not a hint of fear or fascination showing through. He was curious about it, sure, but he didn't see a reason to feel any other way about it. "So, you really don't know anything else about it?" He asked lowly, not in a condescending way, but more of a sympathetic tone.

"No." He answered, fingers curling up slightly as he was tempted to ball them up, but prevented himself from doing so when he was reminded of the wounds that covered them.

Ignis watched them as then slowly unfurled back and carried on with his task. "Does anyone else know about it?" He didn't need to specify who, Prompto already knew who he was referring to.

"Not that I know of." He glanced at the door, afraid that they might be heard, despite how quiet they were being, or the fact that he could hear the others having their own conversation. He couldn't quite shove that subtle paranoia away. "I hope not anyway." He tore his eyes away and back the other as he dabbed at his hands with a wash cloth, carefully drying them off.

"Hmm." Ignis hummed to himself. "Now to find something suitable to wrap these with." He stepped away and began rummaging around. Prompto relaxed a little when he didn't say anything else about his mark, though it still worried him knowing that someone was now aware of it. "Here we are." He finally called back. "Not exactly the best, but it will do." He held out a couple more small wash cloths. "They won't be the most comfortable, but it will at least add some protection for the night."

"Thanks." The blond mumbled as Ignis bound them around his hands, leaving them relatively loose. He flexed his fingers a few time, glad to have freedom back now that Ignis was done messing with them. Clearing his throat, he asked his own question, "You don't think any...differently of me, do you?" He looked down as he asked, unable to meet his gaze.

"Now why would I?" He asked casually, unfazed by the question. "I don't see a reason as to why I should." He turned and opened the door, not giving Prompto the chance to question the matter further, "We should get some rest." He said over his shoulder as he walked out. Following behind, he glanced at the others on the one bed, both seemed to be out cold for the night. The others followed that example and took the other bed, falling asleep practically instantly.

* * *

He became slowly aware of a couple voices around him, only two of them though, and neither of them were Ignis. This caused him to wake up a bit faster than he would have otherwise and he cracked his eyes open, almost being blinded by the morning sun shining in through the window just across from him. Once they adjusted, he scanned around, landing on Noctis and Gladio sitting at the single table at the foot of the beds. Looking further, he never found the third member. "Whe-" He was cut off by a few coughs the forced there way out from trying to use his dry and sore throat, "Where's Ignis." He tried again.

It was the initial cough that caught their attention as they both waited until he could speak properly, "He went to pick up a few things. I offered to go, but he insisted." Noctis answered. "Said he just knew what to get and it would be easier."

"Oh." Prompto replied, sounding a bit upset about that, "What time is it?" He asked, focusing on something else.

"A little passed eight." Gladio answered. "He left as soon as he woke up, so he should be back shortly."

He felt a bit wary about him going alone, especially after what happened. Why would they allow that? "One of you should have gone with him." He said, a hint of blame in his voice.

"Relax." Gladio waved a hand, "He'll be fine, it's just down the road after all. We can see him out the window."

Prompto's head snapped to the left, and he felt the tension seep out of him as he caught sight of him. He had to clear his throat again, "Ah." He said, slightly embarrassed about his little outburst. "Sorry." He said, looking back over to them. "I didn't mean to...react so harshly." He found a spot past them to stare at instead of actually looking at them.

"It's really not a big deal." Noctis answered for the both of them, "It's to be expected."

"I-I know, but still." His hands gripped at the sheets underneath him. "I shouldn't be this cautious around you two; I know you guys and know you wouldn't do anything, but..."

"But, you two have been through some rough things, and it's what happens." Nocis finished the sentence for him. "Would have affected any of us in the same way." He added, trying not to be too obvious with his words. "It'll get better with time."

"Yeah." Prompto answered, pulling the covers back. "I hope you're right."

"What are you doing?" Gladio asked seeing as the blond was making to get up. He stood up himself to stroll over, and stopped when the other lowered his head slightly at the movement.

Catching what he did, he quickly made himself look up, "Sorry" He apologized again, "I'm really trying not to do that." Then he answered the question, "I was just going to sit up is all, I'm not going anywhere."

"Alright." Gladio accepted, "Just careful, you still have a fever after all."

"It's not even that bad." Prompto countered, feeling slightly off, but not exactly terrible. "I'm still functional after all." He gave a small smile which disappeared quickly when he remembered the conversation he and Ignis had in the car. "I think...you guys need to know something." His voice was so low the others almost missed it.

"What is it?" Noctis asked, showing genuine concern at the change of mood and tone.

"It's about what- It's about what happened." He was already having trouble controlling the quivering in his voice, dreading telling them. His hands clenched tighter around the sheets and there was no pain as the emotional was enough to drown it out.

"If you don't want to tell us you don't hav-" Gladio started.

"I do." Prompto stiffly cut him off, "I really do. It's not fair to you guys for me to act this way and you not know why." He took a deep breath to calm himself and try to steady his voice. Noctis found himself looking down at the table, already knowing what was coming.

Prompto swallowed back his discomfort and recalling the events, but once he was sure he was stable enough, he began, "There was this one man." He chose not to use names, "The one we saw at the diner, the taller one." He took a moment to take another deep breath, the other two waiting patiently. "Turns out...turns out, he was more 'fascinated' in me than I thought." He spat out the word, and his breath hitched on the last one as he found himself unable to say anything more.

"It's alright." Gladio spoke up, "You don't need to go on, we understand." They fell silent for a few minutes, the only thing breaking it was the opening of the door as Ignis walked through, holding a small bag in his hand. He immediately felt the gloomy atmosphere and chose not to split it. He made his way to the table and gently placed the bag down, pulling out the antiseptic and stepping over to site next to Prompto.

"Hands." He said quietly, holding out his own. The blond complied and handed his right one over. As carefully as he could, just like in the bathroom, he began cleaning them, earning a few small gasps and hisses here and there. "Alright, that should make things better soon." He said as he lightly wrapped them with fresh gauze. "Once we're sure the infection is gone, we can use a potion, but until then, they need to breathe."

Prompto nodded his thanks and placed his hands in his lap. "Iggy?" He asked quietly. Once he had the other's attention, he continued, "Do you still have my gun?" Without question, he retrieved it and handed to over. Prompto's hands hovered over it before he finally took it in both hands, feeling the familiar weight of it. "Thank you, for holding onto it." He placed it next him on the bed.

"I figured you would change your mind eventually." Ignis gave a soft smile. He got up to put everything back in the bag, catching a glimpse of the expressions the other two wore. He didn't have to ask what was wrong, he could figure it out by just looking. They looked they same way he felt when he figured it out. This is how it had to start. There would be a bit of rough times and a few unsure moments, but with everyone knowing they would be able to heal. "Oh, I almost forgot." He reached back in and retrieved a pair of wire cutters. Before cutting his own earring off, he went back to Promtpo. "Hold still." He instructed.

He gripped his right ear, holding it steady as the cutters easily broke through with a snap. With his ear now free, he reached up and massaged the sore area, feeling as though a weight had been trimmed away. He let out a sigh and nodded his appreciation to the other. Ignis returned the favor as he did the same to his own. Holding both in his hand, he stared down at them for a few stretched moments before strolling over to the bathroom and dropping them in the toilet, flushing them away for good.

"How about I fix something that's actually edible." He said, walking towards the small kitchen area. "Don't get me wrong, cup noodles are great and all, but I'm sure all of us, with one exception, would prefer something else."

"Can't argue with you there." Noctis chimed in, the thought of noodles making him grimace. "I would rather have anything else right about now." He got to his feet and stretched out his back, "Well, from the looks of it, both of you are in need of a new phone and glasses." He pulled out said things from his pocket and dropped them on the table for them to see.

"So that's what became of them." Ignis said, staring down at his glasses.

"Afraid so." Gladio agreed, getting up as well. "I guess while you do what you're doing, Noctis and I can go get new ones."

"Please, leave the glasses getting to me." Ignis shot at them, not wanting them to get the wrong strength. The waved a hand as they walked out.

They remained silent for a moment until Ignis spoke up, "So, you decided to tell them?"

"Yeah." Prompto lied back in the bed, spreading his arms out. "I couldn't keep them in the dark like that. Keeping secrets like that only serves to hurt the holder of it." He glanced over to his right wrist, at his wristband, "It turns into fear and isolation when you let it build up."


End file.
